How do you feel?
by NoTimeForGames
Summary: Post Octo expansion. Eight makes it to the surface, where she'll learn a lot of things about the world, and about herself. Thankfully, Three will always be there for her. F/F 24. Cover art by the amazing @Cat2138 over at twitter!
1. The Arrival

The first thing she noticed was that she was laying down on a cold, tiled floor. Next, was the splitting headache and the fact the sun was beating right into her eyes. Finally, the girl squatting down a few feet in front of her, watching her intently.

She had a black, synthetic leather crop top on, along with a short skirt of the same color and material. She held a weapon she recognized as an Octoshot in her hands. Lastly, the inkling looked upwards at her, seeing two twin tentacles that framed her face, a bit over shoulder length and curled a bit at the tips. She noticed the girl also had pretty eyes, being a purplish color, and slightly tanned skin.

She seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite recall who she was. Was she a friend? Was she an enemy?

Why was she looking at her like that?

Why was she smiling?

The headache hurt so fucking much. Everything started to become blurry, and she started to feel all dizzy suddenly. She tried to focus her sights on to the girl in front of her, but to no avail. She felt herself slowly collapse onto the ground, unconscious.

* * *

''Hey, is she alright?'' asked Marina ''She looks exhausted…''

''I suppose she's okay,'' came Pearl's reply ''What do you think, Cap?''

''Yes, Agent Three has been through worse,'' Cuttlefish confirmed, despite not being able to recall one of those moments ''She'll come around, just give her a few minutes,''

''I hope you're right, Captain…'' Marina said, worriedly looking at the unconscious Inkling, before shifting her attention to the other fellow Octoling there ''Eight! I'm glad to see you're doing fine!''

The mentioned Octoling looked at her, smiling shyly.

''Yoooo, Eight!'' Pearl chimed in ''That was a sick fight there! The way you rode those rails, exploded the hyper bombs, BLAM! Best super hero ever!''

That made the unnamed Octoling chuckle nervously ''T-thanks…''

''You are one talented young lad, I'll give you that,'' Cuttlefish chimed in ''Maybe as good as Agent Three here,''

'''As good'? Please! She's better than her! She beat her in combat with all those crazy specials to boot!''

''Yes, you may be right, Pearl, but my protégé was being controlled by that crazy phone, it wasn't really her''

Marina sighed, turning to look at the fellow Octoling while Cuttlefish and Pearl argued ''So, you are a fan of the Inkantation too, right?''

Marina saw the way the girl's eyes lit up. It made her remember the first time Pearl asked her about the Squid Sisters and she had the exact same reaction.

''Yes, I… I don't know how, but… That song changed something inside me, the way I viewed things…''

''I know what you mean, Eight,'' Marina smiled sweetly ''The oppression in Octarian society becomes apparent once we are free from it. There's no way anyone could continue to live under it once you realize it exists,''

''Yeah… I mean, I always thought everything was okay with the ways things were, but after hearing the Inkantation, I realized that forcing all of us into the army wasn't okay, for example,''

''Yeah, a lot of things stopped making sense after I heard the song, too. That's why I left,''

''I… I suppose it was the same for me… I can't really remem– ''

''Hey! Check it out!'' Pearl suddenly yelled, interrupting Eight and Marina's conversation ''She's waking up!''

All eyes were upon Three in an instant. She slowly raised her head, a soft groan coming out of her. She began trying to sit up, which prompted Cuttlefish to help her up.

''Where…'' She began saying ''Where am I?''

''These young ladies' helicopter, Agent Three. They came to take us out,''

Three looked at Cuttlefish funnily, then looked around and noticed the other people there. She saw Marina and Pearl, which she recognized as the hosts of Inkopolis News and the group Off the Hook, and that same girl from before.

''You saved us, Agent Three, we were almost blended into paste by that crazy phone!''

Memories came flooding back to her, the distress signal she received in the CQ-80 she found, the huge blender the captain was in, but he wasn't alone in there…

''Y-Yeah…'' The soft voice of the Octoling girl spoke up, a shy smile on her face ''Thank you very much,''

She was there too.

''No problem,'' Three smiled back at her, before turning to the Captain ''My memories are a bit fuzzy, what exactly happened after I found you two?''

Cuttlefish moved to sit at the edge of the platform, with Three sitting beside him.

''Well, here's all that happened,''

* * *

''Are… Do all inklings live in houses like this?''

The first word that came to mind to Eight was ''huge''. From what little she remembered of the times when she was still in Octavio's army, everyone slept together in the barracks and that was it. Where all these Inklings that rich?

''Nah, not really,'' Pearl replied ''My father just has a lot of money, so I have this big house. He's always traveling abroad for business meetings though, so it gets lonely when Marina isn't around,''

''Must be nice having all that money from the start,'' Cuttlefish said disapprovingly ''back in my day, you had to work to get things! I swear, you young on–''

''Yeah, whatever, old man,'' Pearl interrupted, waving a dismissing hand ''So, listen, it's pretty late, and I have a guest room you three can stay in if you want to stay the night. What'cha guys say?''

''Thanks for the offer, young lady, but I'll have to pass. My granddaughters must be worried about me,''

''Oh, well, that's a shame. What about you two?'' Marina asked, turning to the girls.

''Well, it's not like I have much of a choice,'' Eight said, smiling.

''I guess I could stay the night, too,'' Three shrugged.

''Then it's settled! I'll start making dinner for all of us,''

''I'll pass on that too, Pearl. I'll eat when I get home,''

''Oh, well, do you want me to accompany you to the gate?'' Marina told Cuttlefish.

''If it's not a problem to you, young lady,'' Cuttlefish turned to look at Pearl ''Again, thanks for the invitation, may we rap again someday,''

Pearl smiled ''You got that right!''

Then he turned to both agents ''Agent Three, I'll be giving you a time off for us to relax, for real this time,'' She smiled at that ''Agent Eight, you are one promising young lady, I'm very pleased to have made your acquaintance. May we meet again,''

''Goodbye, Captain Cuttlefish,'' Eight said, giving him a mock salute.

With that, he bowed and started walking away with Marina leading the way,

''Tell One and Two I said hi, Captain!'' Three shouted at them when they were a few ways away from them.

''Will do, Three!''

''So, with that done, let's head inside!''

* * *

The inside of the house was even more impressive than the outside. Eight noticed that even Three seemed to be amazed at it.

A chandelier hung from the ceiling, way up on the second floor. A couch was put in front of an electric fireplace, with a plasma TV mounted to the wall, right above it. There were several paintings and photographs of people that neither agent recognized. The most impressive thing in the room was the piano near the huge windows that gave a full view of the garden present in the property.

''Woooah, is that a piano?'' Three asked, taking out her phone and snapping a picture of it.

''Yeah, Marina bought it when we started getting paid,'' Pearl confirmed, then gestured to the couch ''You two can sit here. I'll get started on dinner,''

''Thank you, Pearl,'' Eight smiled, sitting down.

''Yeah, thank you very much,'' Three nodded and then sat down next to Eight.

''No need to thank me, guys,'' Pearl turned down the hall to the kitchen, leaving the two girls alone.

Eight turned her head to look at Three, noticing that she was using some kind of device, similar to the phone Cuttlefish had been using, but with no buttons and a huge screen.

She was scrolling through people's pictures, sometimes double tapping on the screen of the device to make a heart pop-up on the photos.

''Um… Agent Three?''

''Yes?'' She turned to look at her. The Octoling hadn't really paid attention before, but she now noticed she had really pretty blue eyes.

''A-ah… what's that?''

''Oh, this? It's a phone. It's used to communicate with other people around the world, and a whole lot of other things. Look!''

She tapped on the screen, then turned and held the phone in her outstretched hand.

The Octoling could see both herself and the inkling on the screen. She figured they were going to take a picture together, like she did when she obtained the thangs down in the metro.

''Come on, smile!''

She did as told, smiling shyly, to which Three tapped the button on-screen and took a photo of the two of them.

''We can take pictures and post them for our friends to see. Do you like it?'' Three asked, showing her the picture.

''Y-yeah, it's pretty cute,'' the Inkling smiled at that, then posted it.

''I'll upload it to my stories, then,''

''Stories?''

''Squidstagram stories. They are posts that get deleted after 26 hours, or a full day in other words. Here, at the stop of the screen, you can see all the people I follow's stories,''

''Huh… That's pretty neat,''

''Yeah, it really is,''

A silence fell on both girls, with Three viewing people's stories and Eight still entranced by the girl's phone.

''So, I don't think we have properly introduced each other, and to be frank I wouldn't like to call you Agent Eight all the time, so,'' The inkling stretched out her arm for a handshake ''I'm Amber. It's nice to meet you,''

The Octoling was unfamiliar with the greeting, but had a rough idea of what she was supposed to do.

She took Amber's hand in hers, the Inkling shaking it softly.

''It's nice to meet you too,''

Amber chuckled ''Aren't you gonna tell me your name?''

''Um… I don't remember it…''

Amber was taken aback by that ''Oh… well, that's a problem…''

The sound of a key and keylock together brought both girls' attention to the main door of the mansion, turning just as Marina came through the door.

''Hi girls!'' Marina smiled and made her way to them, sitting down between the two ''Cuttlefish is really nice, Agent Three! He even apologized to me for… something he said while in the metro,''

Amber smiled ''Yeah, his hearts are on the right place. I can tell it still hurts him a bit not being able to stay friends with Octavio, as they were all those years ago,''

The other Octoling in the room tilted her head to the side ''He was friends with DJ Octavio!?''

''Yeah, he was. One of the first things he told me was to always treasure a good friendship. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I do,''

''That's really nice of him. How long have you met him for?'' Marina asked.

''Two years now,'' Amber remembered fondly ''back when I was just a little sixteen-year-old girl wandering aimlessly on Inkopolis Plaza,'' The three girls laughed at that ''Back then I remembered telling him my name at least ten times. I swear, he only got it right, like, six times at best. He even called me Avery once, that's not even a girl name!''

''Don't be harsh on him,'' Marina said, still giggling a bit ''He's your elder. Oh, that brings up the question, what's your name, Agent Three?''

''It's Amber, nice to meet you,''

Both Marina and Amber moved in to greet each other with a casual peck on each other's cheek, much to Eight's confusion. Why hadn't Amber just shake her hand, like she did with her earlier?

''Well, you already know, but I'm Marina,'' She said with a smile ''So, you mentioned being sixteen two years ago. That should make us about the same age then,''

''If you're eighteen, yeah,'' She giggled ''What about you, Eight? How old are you?''

The young Octoling looked nervous to suddenly be on the spot, shyly responding ''Ah-I… I'm sixteen…''

Marina awwed, hugging her ''You're the youngest one in our group!''

She nervously giggled ''Y-yeah… I guess I am,''

''While we are still on the topic, Eight here can't remember her name, Marina,''

Marina looked at Amber, then looked back at Eight ''You don't? How's that possible?''

''My memories were wiped when I entered the Metro. I got some of them back, like who you were, Marina, or my birthday, but some I never got back, like my name,''

''Well… that won't do…''

''I guess we better give you a name, huh?'' Amber smiled.

''W-what?''

''You heard me. We can't just go calling you Eight all the time,''

''Oh!'' Marina perked up ''We both were changed by the inkantation, so why not Song?''

Eight looked at her funnily ''Song?''

''It'd be like if we started calling Judd 'Cat', Marina…'' Amber said ''But I like your line of thought, so… Aria?''

''Hmm… that's a bit better, but it feels too… bland?'' Marina held her chin, thinking ''Oh! How about, Melody?''

Eight perked up at that. She really liked the sound of that name.

''That… sounds pretty good, actually,''

''Then it's settled!'' Marina said, hugging her once again ''You're going to be known as Melody from now on!''

The newly named Octoling smiled. She was already starting to like Inkopolis and its people.

* * *

The dinner had been pretty uneventful. Marina re-introduced Amber and Melody to Pearl, with the latter complimenting the choice in name for the Octoling.

The food had been great. Pearl had cooked up a pretty big dinner, overestimating the amount of food for four people. When all of them were full, she saved some of the food for breakfast. Melody was already looking forward to that.

Right now, though, she was sleepy. She was tired from the day's events. She had gone from being in a weird metro, to almost being blended into ooze, to saving the world and living in Inkopolis.

Marina had shown both of them to the guest room, which, like the rest of the house, was pretty fancy. The room in itself was quite big, with two beds with a large nightstand separating them. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling, and a large mirror was mounted to the wall, taking up the majority of it. Some posters of various bands decorated the walls. Melody recognized the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook ones, while Amber pointed out the Ink Theory and Bottom Feeders ones to her, saying ''You just gotta listen to them someday!". A sliding door stood made way to a balcony, where you could see Inkopolis in all its glory. Melody could see a huge tower in the distance, the great zapfish curled around it.

The three girls enjoyed each other's company by discussing the day's events, taking a few selfies together and cracking a few jokes up. It wasn't long before Pearl joined them, taking a few more selfies, following each other in Squidstagram, and agreeing Melody should buy a phone as soon as possible.

It was already midnight, and the young Octoling was getting sleepier by the minute. The other three girls were also getting tired, so, after saying their good nights, both Pearl and Marina left the room, leaving both girls alone.

Amber took off her jacket and cape and hung them on the door knob, heading for the bed near the wall. She removed her Hero Runners and laid down on top of the bed, taking her phone and its charger out and plugging it to the wall outlet, letting it charge on the nightstand.

Melody meanwhile walked over to the bed near the sliding glass doors and the balcony, taking off her boots. She closed her eyes and concentrated, letting her tentacles return to their base color of turquoise.

''Whoa," Melody turned at the voice, noticing Amber staring at her ''Is that your base color?''

''Yeah, it is. Why?'' Melody was genuinely curious about the inkling's question.

''It looks really pretty on you," Melody was taken aback by that. From what little of her memories remained, she didn't remember anyone complimenting her base color before ''It highlights your purple eyes, too,''

''T-thanks…'' She could feel a slight blush forming ''W-what's your base color?''

''Meh, just this boring one,'' Amber said, letting her tentacles turn to their normal, orangish color ''Nothing really special,''

Melody thought she looked really pretty, too. Just like Amber had said earlier, her natural ink color went really well with her azure blue eyes. Hell, those eyes alone were already pretty by themselves!

''Nonsense, Amber,'' She began ''Orange looks really good on you. Don't be too harsh on yourself,''

''Yeah, you say that, but when your name is the same as your ink color, it earns a lot of mocking and bullying from other kids, especially when you can't control your humanoid form yet,''

The Octoling couldn't really understand how she felt, but it didn't take a genius to figure out she didn't like it because of her childhood.

''I… don't really like it. I usually wear it yellow, or green, but orange…'' She looked to the side, avoiding the Octoling's gaze.

''They were just being mean. I'm not lying when I say it looks pretty on you,'' Amber looked at her, an unreadable expression on her face ''Still, I'm sorry for bringing it up,''

''…It's okay, you couldn't have known,'' She said with a smile ''Anyway, I'm getting kind of tired. Mind if I turn off the lights?''

Melody smiled and nodded for her to go on, getting under the covers of the warm and comfy bed. She watched the inkling do the same, after turning off the lights. The room was only dimly lit by their bioluminescence.

''Good night, Melody,''

''Good night, Amber,''

She turned around, watching Inkopolis through the glass doors, and could already begin to feel it.

She was sure this was the start of a beautiful new life.

* * *

''So, what're your plans for today?'' Marina asked, using a napkin to clean her mouth.

''I was thinking getting Melody into turf war is in order, then help her get a phone,'' Amber replied ''Would you like that?''

''That sounds wonderful,'' Melody said with a smile.

''You know, Splatfest is coming up. It might be a good idea to get all that Turf War training done soon,''

Pearl said, taking her phone out.

Melody had a confused look on her face. She had heard, or read, rather, about that term before, but had no idea what it was about. Pearl and Marina had said it tired them out, so it must be some kind of big event.

''What's a Splatfest?''

''Oh, you don't know?'' Marina then began explaining ''Splatfests are monthly events we host where Inklings and Octolings pledge their support for one of two teams, then participate in turf wars to see which team's better. Pearl and I perform on the stage, if you wanna come party,''

That sounded pretty neat, actually. She was already looking forward to this event.

''What're the teams this month?'' Amber asked.

''We haven't announced them yet, but we can tell you as long as you don't tell anyone,'' Pearl said, taking out her phone to check ''This month's teams are… Orange juice with pulp, or without pulp,''

What.

The younger Octoling chuckled. Did inklings fight over things like these? Maybe Tartar wasn't so wrong.

''…Well, at least it something we all can agree on,'' Amber said ''Orange juice goes with pulp, or it simply isn't orange juice,''

Both Octolings in the room looked at her with disgusted looks ''No way, pulp is seriously the worst,''

Marina said, Melody nodding in agreement.

''Well, looks like Amber's on my team for this one, and Melody's on yours,'' Pearl, smiled mischievously ''You better win us a lot of fights, Agent Three,''

''Pearlie, cut that out. What matters most is having fun,''

''Yeah, you say that, but still end up pretty salty when you lose,''

Marina blushed profusely ''Pearlie!''

* * *

Inkopolis Square wasn't as big as she had imagined, but it was full of life, both Inklings and Octolings walking around and talking to each other. She could see a jellyfish skateboarding nearby, some others walking around. An inkling was in front of a window taking pictures with his phone, where Pearl and Marina were. Off the Hook made eye contact with the girls and waved, then continued talking among themselves.

Melody adjusted the leather belts around her waist, more out of nervousness than necessity. All of this was really different from her old life, and it made her feel both uneasy and excited at the same time. All her life she had been taught Inklings were no more than simple-minded predators, yet here she was, in the middle of Inkopolis city, watching as those same ''predators'' happily conversed with one another, or even with other Octolings.

''So, the objective of the game is to cover the most ground you can in your team's ink,'' Amber began explaining, taking Melody's attention ''you can splat your opponents too if you run into them, but don't go looking for people to splat, focus on the objective''

Unlike the Octoling, who was donning her full combat gear, Amber's clothes were much more casual, consisting of her Studio Headphones, Layered Anchor LS and Navy Enperrials.

Melody raised an eyebrow at the inkling ''You splat other people for fun?''

''Yeah, it sounds pretty savage the first time, but with respawn point technology, what's the harm?''

''Respawn point technology?'' That was octo tech as far as she knew, and its purpose was to save people from actually dying after getting splatted in combat ''Is that used by you Inklings for a sport?''

''Yeah, more or less. So, you in?''

Melody was pretty miffed at the wasted potential of her people's tech, but nodded her agreement nonetheless. Amber smiled.

''Great! Now, you'll want a weapon for this. How about your Octoshot for your first match?''

Melody nodded again and adjusted her Octoling Shades. She was really nervous about this. She didn't think this could be harder than most of the stations in the Metro, but she still didn't want to lose. Nobody liked losing.

''Okay, let's head in,'' Amber put her headphones on, walking towards Deca Tower, prompting Melody to follow. In front of the tower were other people talking to themselves, some with drinks in their hands, laughing and getting to know each other.

''So, first we'll need to register you for the system,'' Amber logged out of SplatNet 2 on her phone and tapped the register button. ''Can I take your picture?''

Melody nodded and smiled for the camera. Amber took the photo and uploaded it as Melody's profile pic.

''Then comes… Real name, username and display name,'' She typed in 'Melody' in real name, while explaining the other two fields to the Octoling ''Username is the name you use to log in, along with your password that we'll get to on a minute, and display name is like a nickname for battles,''

Melody hummed, crossing her arms to think ''Agent 8 is fine for username,'' She said, Amber typing it down ''As for display name… can it just be my name?''

Amber blinked, then nodded, typing it down. She created a password for Melody's account and then pocketed her phone. ''If you're unsure, you can always change it afterwards,''

''What's yours?''

Amber chuckled, then replied softly ''It's, ah… Mystic…''

Melody tried to stifle a giggle, causing Amber to frown at her ''Hey, I was fourteen at the time! I just… never bothered to change it, I guess?''

''You don't like it?'' Melody asked as they reached a platform, where a small screen gave different options on turf war, ranked and league battles.

''It's not that I don't like it…'' Amber tapped on the screen, selecting the turf war option. The system showed a cartoony squid on the screen with the text 'please wait…' before it transitioned to a lobby, showing both girls' display names on two spaces, with six below with the text ''Searching…'' on bright, white letters. The stages were off to the side, being Humpback Pump Track and The Reef respectively, along with photos of the stages. ''I mean, yeah, it's kind of cringey, but I've never sat down to think about a better name, not that it matters much,''

Three of the spaces changed to names, then the remaining three changed too. The timer on the top left disappeared and the words ''Battle time!'' appeared on the screen.

''Well, looks like our match's about to begin. You ready?'' The inkling asked, to which her friend nodded, despite her nervousness.

The screen changed to the same cartoony squid from before, but this time it showed it jumping into a kettle. The floor opened up a few centimeters away from the two girls, a kettle rising up. A countdown of 15 seconds showed up on screen.

Melody was surprised at the use of kettles to get around. As with the respawn points, It seemed octo tech wasn't all 'octo' anymore.

Amber walked forward and fell into the kettle, with Melody following behind. They both were transported to The Reef, where their two teammates where waiting.

''_This is it,_'' Melody thought ''_I hope we don't lose,_''

* * *

The battle had gone pretty well, their team victorious. Melody was pretty happy about that, smiling wide.

''I take by your expression you liked that,'' Amber said, smiling along with her, throwing one of her dualies into the air, catching it as it came back down ''Pretty lucky of us to go against a team with two chargers,''

Melody giggled. Seriously, why would you bring chargers to Turf War?

''Yeah, and it was pretty fun, too,''

''Would you like to go again?'' Melody nodded excitedly, to which Amber smiled. Soon enough, both girls where queuing up for another match.

She was already beginning to like this new lifestyle.


	2. The New

''_God, that was exhausting,''_ Melody thought _''These inklings are really energetic, that's for sure,''_

A lot more matches were had, both girls had lost track at around the 23rd match. Some wins here, some losses there, but it was all in good fun, Melody didn't even feel angry for losing some matches.

''Let's see here,'' Amber said, taking out her phone from her pocket and logging into Melody's SplatNet 2 account ''You are now level 7!'' The Octoling just looked back at her, confused.

''Levels are used to determine your freshness,'' She explained ''By levelling up, you can buy fresher gear and better weapons, basically. You can also participate in ranked battles once you reach level 10,''

Ranked battles. Melody had seen Off The Hook report the stages of that mode, along with League battle ones. So far, she just had seen two additional game modes in the news, Splat Zones for ranked, and Tower Control for League.

''Ranked battles are a bit more competitive than Turf War,'' Amber said, walking towards the tables on the square, Melody following closely behind ''There're four game modes that rotate every two hours,''

''Oooh, can we do ranked battles together once I reach level 10?'' Melody asked, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. Amber just frowned.

''Woah there, slow down girl. We can't go together to ranked battles,'' The inkling said, elaborating once she saw the Octoling's hurt expression ''It wouldn't be fair if, say, we went together to a match, while everyone else went solo. Imagine if a four-player team went together. With the better communication between teammates, they would win every match!''

Melody's expression softened, but she still looked a bit hurt ''Well, that makes sense, but… will we ever be able play together?'' Amber smiled at her.

''That's what league battles are for! In these, you can go together with a friend or three, and play against other people teaming up as well!''

Melody perked up at that, and she smiled back at her friend ''Can we do that?''

''Sure! But you need to reach B- in one of the ranked game modes first to actually play in League Battles,'' Melody tilted her head.

''More levelling up?''

' 'Yep! So, the way your rank works is like this…''

* * *

Amber had spent the last 30 minutes explaining to the young Octoling how the system worked, the different ranks you could achieve, how your rank was tied to your game mode, and then moved on to explaining each game mode's rules in detail. She was surprised to learn that Melody already knew the basic rules of Tower Control and Rainmaker, as some of the stations on the Deepsea Metro simulated matches of those modes.

In the meantime, both girls had taken a trip to the mall to buy a phone for Melody. She had never heard of a ''mall'' before, and was surprised at the sheer size of the building and the amount of people there. There were all kind of stores ranging from department stuff, to video games, to electrical appliances, and that was just a little part of the first floor.

''Ooh, that's a nice Clash Blaster there,'' Amber said, stopping on her tracks to watch a match of Tower Control on a huge screen mounted to the wall near the escalators to the second floor ''Can you see him? He's the one who just got on the tower,''

Melody saw the green inkling Amber was referring to, but was more interested on the weapon he was using. It looked weird and clunky, but that inkling made it look like a pretty good weapon choice.

''He's really skilled, I'll give him that,'' Amber said as the guy defended the tower by standing behind the stake and shooting from there, while avoiding as many shots as possible, including a charger trying to snipe him down. He got two splats in before he activated his Stingray special and began target-firing said charger down.

''Well, we shouldn't get sidetracked,'' the inkling said, Melody's attention shifting to her ''let's get you that phone,''

* * *

''Here you go!'' Amber said, handing a bag to Melody ''Hold on to that until we get to my apartment, we'll open it up there,''

Inside the bag was an assortment of different clothing items ranging from hoodies, to skirts, shirts and a few boxes of shoes. On top of all that, a small box sat, with a picture of the phone Amber had bought for her. Melody felt guilty for making her new friend spend so much money on things for herself.

''It's no problem, really,'' the inkling had said, while they exited the mall and began walking through the street ''I have quite a bit of money from ranked battles and working for Cuttlefish''

''…Are you sure it's okay?'' Melody asked shyly as they turned down a corner, Amber nodding.

''If we're gonna live together from now on, and you're gonna help me with the rent, it's the least I can do,''

The Octoling smiled, nodding herself. They walked a few ways until they arrived at a bus stop, waiting there.

''We'll take the bus here. It's a short ride to my place, no more than 10 minutes,'' The inkling said. Melody nodded, despite she didn't know what a ''bus'' was. She supposed it was a vehicle or something, judging by the cars that passed down the street.

After a short time of Melody distractedly looking around, she felt Amber nudge her shoulder. She turned to look at her, and saw a large vehicle coming to a stop in front of them.

''Come on, let's go,'' The inkling said, getting on the bus with Melody following closely behind. She could see a few other people inside, some inklings, jellyfishes, an anemone, and even an Octoling were scattered over the seats. Amber paid the fare for both of them and then walked to a pair of unoccupied seats, both girls sitting down.

Melody began looking out the window of the bus, watching as other vehicles drove by, to the people walking down the street, to some birds flying on the sky. Nothing like this existed on the underground of Octarian society.

''So, Melody,'' Amber began, the Octoling's attention shifting to her ''Why don't we get to know each other better?'' Melody smiled.

''Sure! Ask me anything,''

''Well, what do you like?''

''Oh, well… I really like weapons, and technology in general. I remember when I was in military school I liked to study how the weapons functioned. I also remember hearing about Marina doing great in advanced classes, despite being younger than most people who took those courses,''

''Marina?'' Amber asked with a cocked eyebrow ''Like, Off the Hook Marina?''

Melody nodded, whispering so no one would accidentally overhear ''Yeah, from what I remember, Marina was a high-ranking member of DJ Octavio's elite teams, being a combat engineer and designing different kinds of weaponry and machines. I remember… hearing how she suddenly deserted, everyone blamed the Squid Sisters for it,''

Amber nodded. She knew this had something to do with the inkantation and her fight against Octavio two years ago.

''Is that the reason you escaped, too?'' She asked. Melody nodded slowly.

''Yeah… something changed when I listened to the Squid Sisters perform two years ago," Amber's eyes widened a bit, but didn't say anything "I remember… I hated them, but one day, around a month ago, DJ Octavio hosted a concert with Callie,''

Amber remembered having heard of Callie's kidnapping by the idol's cousin, Marie. She had called her, devastated for her disappearance, but more than to ask for help, she told her to try and keep it a secret from Cuttlefish. She said she was going to recruit another Inkling and find her.

''I attended the concert… A lot of Octolings did, in fact. Long story short, an Inkling beat him, the Squid Sisters reunited, and sang the Calamari Inkantation once again. It took some time, but us Octolings started defecting after that. I did just a few weeks ago,''

Amber nodded once again. Callie had went missing around two or so months ago, a little after Cuttlefish and herself had gone to do some research at the cape. The idol was saved a few weeks after that by the newly recruited Agent Four. Amber still hadn't met her.

''So, you're a fan of the Squid Sisters now?'' Melody nodded excitedly.

''Yep! They did sort of change my life, after all,'' She said with a smile ''Getting back on topic, I also like writing poems,'' Amber ooh-ed at that.

''Can you show me one sometime?'' Melody looked at her for a second, before speaking up once again.

''_At last we meet, my so-called foe._

_But is our fate to spray this hate?_

_Perhaps we'll learn in depths below…''_

She sported a small turquoise blush after she finished. Truthfully, she couldn't remember ever sharing poem with someone, maybe with her old friend…

Amber nonetheless smiled ''That's really nice!'' Melody's blush deepened, looking away shyly.

''We already talked a lot about me, what about you?'' Melody asked, eager to get away from the attention ''What do you like?''

''Oh well, I like videogames, ranked battles, and listening to music'' She said, shrugging her shoulders ''I'm pretty average in terms of likes,'' Melody tilted her head in confusion.

''Videogames?''

''You don't know what videogames are?'' the inkling asked, incredulously ''What a sad life,'' Melody huffed and crossed her arms.

''I'm just kidding!'' Amber said, smiling at the younger Octoling ''Videogames are… well, games, that you play on a PC or a console. I have a console back home, we could play something if you'd like," Melody smiled and nodded ''Speaking of home, we have to get off at the next stop,''

Melody nodded once again, turning her head to look out the window. Several buildings stretched high into the sky, about the size of a super jump, alongside some smaller ones, namely small businesses.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Amber beginning to stand up from her seat, holding a little cord and causing a little beep sound. The bus slowed down to a stop shortly afterwards and opened the doors.

''Thanks!'' Amber said to the driver, once both girls had gotten out of the bus. They walked towards one of the taller buildings in the block. Entering it, Amber greeted the concierge cheerfully, with Melody doing the same, albeit a bit shyer, him giving a nod and a smile in return. They continued walking until they reached two elevators, with a set of stairs to the left of them.

Amber pushed on of the buttons, the outline of it lighting up, and both girls waited for a few seconds until the doors of the elevator opened up.

Melody was mesmerized by this piece of technology. She was taken by surprise as the elevator started moving upwards, coming to a stop on the fourth floor. As far as she knew, inklings didn't know how to make things float, so how did this all work?

She figured she could ask Amber later.

Both girls got off the elevator and went down the hall until they were facing a regular old door with a gold colored plate with the number 412 on it. Amber took out her keys from her pocket, opening the door and letting them both enter.

"Here we are!" She said, moving to close the door behind melody, who was currently taking in all of her surroundings.

Right in front of her was a small wooden table, four chairs sat across from each other, two on each side of it. A loveseat sat across from a plasma TV on a piece of furniture, with a coffee table in between the two. She could see a mess of cables on the floor near the TV, along with some rectangular-shaped devices. She guessed this was the living room.

"Come on, I'll show you your room," Amber began walking down the small hall into another room, with Melody following closely behind. The room they were in now had a double bed off to the side, practically against the wall. In front of it -and beside the girls- there were two white sliding doors, which made way into a built-in closet, currently empty.

Both girls sat down on the bed, leaving their bags on it. Melody took out the box where her new phone was, and began opening it.

The phone inside was round in shape, similar to an octopus. Its design made Melody smile.

While she was busy examining it, Amber took the phone's charger out and connected it to the wall outlet.

"You should charge it before using it" Amber said, handing her the connector which she promptly inserted into her phone.

"Now push this button on the side,"

After a few seconds of holding the button down, the device vibrated and the screen lit up. A logo appeared in the middle of the screen and lingered there for a moment before the device began asking for different things like the time of day, the date, fingerprint data, along with some other things.

Melody began inputting all the data that was asked to her with a small smile on her face. Amber noticed she didn't seem to have a problem with the inkling language on the screen.

"I've been meaning to ask," Amber began, Melody's attention shifting to her "how do you know inkling so well?" the Octoling smiled shyly.

"Oh, I learnt a bit of it when I was still in the army, and Captain Cuttlefish taught me a lot more on the short time we were trapped in the metro,"

Amber gave a low hum in response, the duo falling into silence one again.

Inputting the last bit of information, and after it informed Melody she was all set, the device's screen changed to the default background of an array of colors in triangular shapes of different sizes. The Octoling smiled softly, turning to Amber.

"What should I do now?" Amber smiled back softly.

" You'll probably want to connect to the WiFi. Here, swipe down…"

* * *

"Now you can message them anytime you want," Amber finished her explanation "you should give it a try,"

Melody opened up the free messaging app, going through the small contact list of three people in it. Amber's contact was at the top of the list, a small picture next to her name of her and the Squid Sisters at one of their concerts. Melody's eyes briefly lit up, and she tapped on the picture. She looked at it, then looked at Amber.

"You attended one of the Squid Sisters' concerts?" She excitedly asked, even if the answer was pretty obvious. Amber just nodded.

"Several of them,"

"And you… you actually got to meet them?" the Octoling asked once again, a sense of wonder in her eyes. Amber looked back at her with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah…" She replied slowly "Unrelated question, how much do you know of the New Squidbeak Splatoon?" Melody raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I… know you and Captain Cuttlefish are members, and that the Squid Sisters helped you against Octavio, but not much more, really. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just wondering if you'd like to meet the other members sometime," She said, shrugging "you are part of the NSS, after all,"

"I… guess we could" She said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Amber picked up on it, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, we are all nice people. I think you'll really like One and Two," Melody slowly nodded, focusing on her phone, looking at the smiling Amber in the screen with both idols at her side, in their usual "Stay fresh!" pose.

"Didn't you want to talk to Marina?" Amber asked, breaking Melody's train of thought. Nodding slightly, she closed the picture and went to the second contact of the list.

Unlike Amber's contact, Marina's didn't show any picture whatsoever, just a standard Inkling shape, which she though was a bit ironic. With a bit of hesitation, she tapped on Marina's name. The screen transitioned to show an empty chat log.

"Tap on the white spot here to begin typing" Amber instructed, and so did the Octoling.

_Hi Marina! It's Melody!_

She sent the message, and watched as a little gray checkmark appeared next to her message, which then turned to two checkmarks.

"Umm, what does that mean?" She asked, turning to look at the other girl in the room.

"That's your message's status. One check means the message was sent, two means the message was received, and the blue checks mean the message was seen by the other person.

As if on cue, the checkmarks changed colors, and soon Marina typed back.

_Melody? As in '8' Melody?_

_Yup!_

Amber smiled inwardly "I'll leave you to that while I take a shower, okay?"

Melody turned to her, smiling "Alright,"

Amber got up and left the room, turning left down the hallway to the only bathroom. Once there, she locked the door and got her phone out.

She had to talk to a certain idol.


	3. The Meeting

Melody woke up feeling nervous, and felt even more so while she was out on the streets. It was the same kind of nervousness she felt when her ink tank had a bomb strapped to it during some tests.

She had spent most of the early morning picking what to wear. How would she come off to the other agents? Should she wear her Octoling armor to give the appearance of a fearsome Octoling warrior? Surely not, that'd overdo it probably. Then she should wear casual, but not _too _casual, either.

Even out in the streets, she wasn't sure if she had done a good job or not. She fidgeted with the Golden Toothpick that was tucked between her left ear and her head, even though she knew it wasn't going to fall off or something.

"Relax, you look nice!" Amber had said to her, while guiding her… somewhere. She hadn't told her where. "Its not like you're gonna be judged or anything,"

"I know, just… I don't want to leave a bad first impression…"

"You won't, trust me!" Amber cheerily replied "that Annaki Drive Tee matches your Red & Black Squidkids, and your skirt makes you look cute," the Octoling gave her a half-hearted smile, still not sure about her own appearance.

"You look nice, too" she commented, and that she was sure of. Amber was wearing a Zink LS shirt and Orca Woven Hi-Tops, along with the standard Inkling shorts. On her mantle, a small S-shaped hairclip sat, to the left of her bangs. Melody would never have thought the oh-so fearsome Agent Three could ever look this cute.

"Aww, thanks!" Amber smiled, turning down the corner, Melody following closely behind.

They soon arrived at a diner, which Melody noticed was fairly empty save for two booths. She had figured that would be the case as it was still a bit early in the morning.

The place looked casual enough, and a bit of tension left Melody. She hadn't over or underdressed, that was good.

Once they entered, a girl inkling looked up from her booth, and after locking eyes with Amber for a moment, waved them over cheerily. Melody froze in place as she looked them over.

The girl who waved them over was wearing a pink beanie with a small star adorning it covering a bit of her black tentacles. Her shirt was a white color, with a black undershirt poking out a bit, giving a nice contrast. Over all that, a pink hoodie covered the rest of her upper body. She had a cup of tea clasped in her hands, a bit of steam coming out of it.

Next to her sat another inkling girl, wearing a tight fitting lime t-shirt that complimented her curves really well in Melody's honest opinion, with an unzipped black hoodie over it. A small hat sat atop her head, bringing Melody's attention to the gray coloring of her tentacles. She took a sip from her coffee cup and smiled softly in their direction.

There was no mistaking it. They were the Squid Sisters.

"You didn't tell me the Squid Sisters were part of the Splatoon too," Melody whispered softly to Amber, already feeling her face heating up from embarrassment, her cheeks turning a deep turquoise color.

"Where would the fun be in that?" she replied with a cocky smirk, leading her up to the booth, sitting down in front of them.

"Melody, this is One, Callie," Amber began, gesturing towards the pink-dressed inkling, who gave her a big, cheery smile "and this is Two, Marie," again, she gestured towards the other inkling in the booth, who simply smirked at her.

"So, you are Eight, huh?" Marie -or Two- said, in a matter of fact tone "Gramps told us about you," the Octoling nodded softly.

"Y-yeah… I'm Eight… or Melody, if you prefer that…" she said in a near whisper.

Amber laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder, giving her a warm smile, before turning to the idols "Where's Four?"

"Oh, she's just late," Callie began "She should be here soon enough, but in the meantime," She turned to Melody "I'd like to get to know you,"

The Octoling felt like she was going to die right that very moment, yet tried to remain as calm as possible. She simply smiled and nodded.

"So, you three ended up in Kamabo," Callie began "Gramps told us he and Three were on Mount Nantai when they spotted you. What exactly happened then?" Melody nodded slowly, trying to remember that day's events.

"I… my memories are still kinda fuzzy, but from what I remember… something attacked us while we were there. After that, I woke up in the Metro with my memories wiped,"

"What were you doing there?" Marie began "In Mount Nantai, I mean,"

"I was trying to make my way to Inkopolis…" Marie raised an eyebrow and prodded further.

"And why was that?"

"I… I deserted from the army… after hearing the Inkantation,"

Marie hummed appreciatively, seemingly satisfied. Her cousin was still curious, though.

"Melody, was it?" said girl nodded, turning to look at the idol "how old are you?"

"I'm… sixteen" Callie nodded slowly.

"Did you go to any missions?"

"…Sort of?" both idols looked at her pensively "I mean, from what I remember it was just zapfish retrieval missions, nothing too exciting nor dangerous. I was heartbroken for the little things..."

A waiter arrived at their table, holding a tray with a stack of pancakes for Callie and a waffle for Marie. The table fell into that awkward silence, typical of when the waiter arrives with your food, but it was broken shortly after he introduced himself to Amber and Melody and asked them if they were going to order anything.

"I think I'll have waffles too," Amber began "and some tea would be nice as well," the waiter nodded, writing it down on his notepad.

"What about you, miss?" he asked, turning to the young Octoling.

"I... I think I'll have the same, please," he nodded again, excusing himself and leaving.

Callie took a sip from her tea, and looked towards the entrance. She gave a soft smile and waved someone over, not unlike she had done before.

Soon enough, another Inkling girl with short, yellow tentacles walked up to them. She was wearing a black jacket with two embroidered birds on the chest area, which Melody instantly thought looked really cute and wondered how it would look on herself instead. She wore two small clip-on earrings of a squid in a '2' shape, which certainly added to her overall cuteness.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I overslept!" She said, sliding into the booth beside the Squid Sisters.

"Well, you made it. That's the important part," Marie said, looking sweetly at her. She then gestured towards the other Agents "This is Three, and this is Eight,"

"Oh, hi!" She cheerily smiled "I'm Amy, AKA Agent Four!"

Amber smiled back, the cheeriness from her easily contagious "Well, I'm Amber and-"

"Hahaha, like your ink color!" She interrupted, making both Squid Sisters cringe inwardly. Amber just sighed softly.

"Yes, like my ink color,"

"That's nice!" She then turned to the Octoling "What about you? I really like that, by the way" She said, gesturing towards the Golden Toothpick "It looks really cute on you!"

"O-oh, thank you…" She awkwardly smiled at her "I'm Melody. Your jacket is nice too,"

"Well, thank you!" She beamed.

Melody shyly looked away, with the waiter coming back once again, holding a tray with two cups, a fancy-looking teapot and a lot of different teabags to choose from.

As the waiter served their tea, he offered Amy a menu, which she politely declined.

"So, getting back on topic," Callie began "what were your plans once you reached Inkopolis?"

Melody looked pensively at her, before feebly speaking up.

"I… I don't know…" The idol rose an eyebrow.

"You don't know?" she repeated.

"Yeah… I mean, I know I wanted to escape the army, but I don't remember my plan once I got here, or if I had any…"

"The army?" Amy spoke up "You were in the army?"

"She's an Octoling, Four," Marie pointed out.

"I _know _she is, Marie," Amy began, looking towards Melody "but she seems… too young, like my age, almost,"

"I am too young," Melody spoke up "only the best female Octolings who finished all their training courses can become warriors,"

"What happens to those that don't become warriors?" Amber asked.

"From what I can remember, you could become an engineer, or a scientist, or…" She frowned, as if trying to think of something "…I don't think you have a word for this in Inkling, but you could become a _Mi'izuxe,_"

Seeing as no one said anything, she began explaining.

"A _Mi'izuxe _is an Octoling that chooses to care for the youngest Octarians and their mothers. The most accurate translation for the word would be 'false mother' or something like that,"

"What about the father?" Marie spoke up "Does he become a _Mi'izuxe _too?"

"No, he goes back to his line of work. Most _Mi'izuxe _are Octoling girls that aren't allowed to breed,"

"Allowed to WHAT!?" Amber exclaimed, just as their waiter came back with their food, which he left in front of the two.

"Thank you," Melody said with a smile, which the waiter returned before leaving.

"Well, as I was saying," the Octoling began "the higher-ups are really serious about the 'best genes' and stuff, so we all get scanned at the moment of our birth and when we hit sexual maturity, and are paired up later in life if they determine you have the genes they want,"

"But then, why wouldn't they let people have their own children?" Callie asked "and what about romantic relationships?"

"Well, mutations can happen, which are extremely likely for some reason, and for relationships, you could be with anyone you liked, but at the same time you couldn't refuse when you were paired up with someone, so most people avoided relationships altogether,"

"Mutations?" Amy spoke up "Like, more fingers, something like that?"

The Octoling brought her hand to her chin, making a humming sound in thought "Yeah, but that's a pretty big mutation. I'm talking about the smaller ones, like a tentacle that's shorter than the rest, or less suction cups than the norm,"

A small, awkward silence held itself for a few seconds, Melody taking a sip from her tea which had cooled down enough to drink comfortably.

"…that's harsh," Amy spoke up, looking worriedly at Melody, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, it is," She sighed "but enough about that, let's talk about something else,"

"Yeah, let's do that," Marie smiled and taking a bite of her food.

"Have you been enjoying Inkopolis so far?" Callie asked, taking her own bite of her food afterwards.

"I have!" Melody beamed "everything's different, but in a good way. Turf wars are surprisingly fun, too,"

"Why don't we go turfing after this?" Amy asked, a gleam in her eyes.

"Sure! I want to try some new weapons, too,"

"Oh, that reminds me" Marie spoke up "we invited Sheldon into the Splatoon,"

Amber visibly paled "You did WHAT!?"

Callie was quick to interject "But don't worry! He said that the 'tech team' shouldn't be on the front lines, whatever that means,"

A mber let out a sigh of relief "God, don't ever scare me like that again, Marie,"

* * *

This NSS gathering had gone quite well, even though a bit rushed, in Amber's honest opinion. Callie had to go shoot a commercial or something, so they had to cut the get-together short.

Right now, they -Melody, Amy and herself- were making their way to the square, the two younger girls happily talking.

Hearing them talk together made her feel strange, but not in a bad way. It was like, gratifying, in a sense.

She figured it had something to do with Melody setting in nicely. After the bomb she had dropped while at the diner, she felt so much better for giving her a place to stay.

"I want to try an Undercover Brella today!" Amy began "they changed something so now it covers turf more easily,"

"How does that work?" Melody asked "like, do you have to bring your weapon to have it changed?" Amy nodded.

"Yeah, it's kind of a hassle, but well, what can you do,"

Once they arrived at the square, they quickly made their way inside Ammo Knights, the horseshoe crab owner smiling once he noticed them.

"Oh, hi, Amy!" he began saying, then looked last her to where Amber and Melody were "And hi to you too, Amber! Long time no see!"

"Yeah, I guess," Amber muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, and who might you be?" He said, turning to the Octoling in the room. Amy was quick to introduce her.

"She's Melody, newly recruited Agent Eight of the NSS," Sheldon's eyes lit up at that, and Melody had to keep herself from laughing.

"Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you and thank you for your service!" he beamed, giving her a mock salute "So, what are you in the market for?"

"Oh, well, I'm looking for a Brella today," The younger Inkling spoke up.

"What kind of Brella? Splat, sorella, undercover…"

Melody's attention turned to the other weapons on display. There were a lot of shooting weapons, but there were also a few rollers and chargers too.

She turned to look at Amber, who had her back against the wall, looking at her phone with a bored expression. Beside her a brush-like weapon hung on the wall from its handle.

"An Octobrush…" Melody instantly recognized the weapon, wasting no time in taking it and examining it.

"Oh, yes, the Octobrush!" Sheldon turned to her "It's a brush with dense bristles that fling a thick stream of ink with each swipe! It's a bit slower than the inkbrush, but it can splat opponents more easily!"

Melody smiled and nodded, while Amber silently groaned beside her.

The Octoling paid her no mind as she continued talking to the owner about the various uses of the weapon.

"There's also the Nouveau!" Amy chimed in from behind Sheldon, twirling an Undercover Brella in her hands.

"Of course, the Nouveau!" Sheldon began "The Octobrush Nouveau has the same stats as the regular Octobrush, but it encourages a more supportive playstyle with Squid beakons…"

Sheldon's voice faded away as Amber mentally blocked him out. She turned to glance at the Octoling, who wore a beaming smile at the rambling nerd. She figured it was to be expected, as Octolings were really into tech and weapons.

"Hmm… I think I'll take the normal one. How much is it?" Melody asked with a sweet smile, directed more towards her weapon than the owner of the store.

"It's just 8200 C, Miss!" He replied "normally you should be at least level 10 to buy this weapon, but I'll make an exception for an NSS member. How will you be paying?"

Before she could say anything, Amy had taken her card out from a small card holder in her pocket "She won't be paying a thing, I got it,"

"Are you sure?" Melody asked, "I can afford to pay for it,"

"Yeah, I'm sure," the inkling replied, paying for both her new Brella and the Brush "think of it as a friendship gift,"

''Well, okay!'' Melody beamed.

Contrary to what she was raised to believe, inklings were really nice.

* * *

Amber opened the door to her apartment, letting Melody and herself inside. With it being early evening, rays of sunlight still peeked through the windows, but it would start getting dark quickly.

''Hey, Amber…'' Melody began, while the inkling unceremoniously threw herself in the couch, taking her phone out ''Can I take a shower?''

Amber looked at her quizzically ''Of course you can, Melody. You don't have to ask me for permission,''

''Oh,'' Melody giggled, feeling a bit silly ''I'm sorry, I'm still not used to the surface,'' Amber smiled sweetly, waving a dismissing hand at her.

''Don't worry, you'll be soon,''

With a smile, the young Octoling turned away and headed to the bathroom, Amber soon hearing the watered-down ink of the shower running.

She sighed softly as she scrolled through her squidstagram feed. Today had been far different from her normal days, but in a good way.

Going turfing with both Amy and Melody had been really fun -the most fun she'd had in a while, actually- and she was already looking forward to when Melody hit B- in a ranked mode so she could take her to League Battles.

With how well she turfed, she'd take no time at all to get there.

She smiled softly to herself. The gods knew she had been through hell -an almost literal one- to get here, and seeing her so happy and full of life brought her a sense of joy and calmness.

She frowned a bit. Not everything was flowers and rainbows, though. They had fought each other twice, and she knew she could easily have been splatted one of those times. The time they fought in the metro, she was being mind-controlled by that weird telephone thing. She scratched her right eye at the memory, thankful that there were no scars of the incident.

But getting back on topic, the first time they fought in Mount Nantai, she probably would have splatted her hadn't they been attacked. She didn't want to fight that time, but with the Cap'n so close and unarmed, and Melody pressing the trigger first, she hadn't had much of a choice.

She again sighed softly. She could only hope it was all water under the bridge now, but part of her wondered if Melody thought badly of her because of it. Well, surely not if they were living together, but that raised the question, did she remember the fight? If not, would she hate her when she did?

She shook her head. It probably wasn't good for her mental health for her to be thinking these things, and what better way to forget it than some Super Smash Bros. with random people over the internet.

She took the nearby controller to turn on the game console, booting up the game and taking the SquidCube controller to play.

What? She thought it was better than the Joycons.

While waiting for the game to boot up, she heard the shower stop running, and curtains being pulled. Sure enough, when she was going through the game's menu, Melody emerged from the bathroom clad in only a towel, wrapped nicely around her body.

''Um, Amber…'' the Octoling spoke up, the aforementioned turning to look her way ''I'm actually felling pretty tired, so I'm gonna go sleep, okay? Good night,'' The inkling smiled softly.

''Good night Melody, sleep well!''

''Thanks, you too,''

With that, the Octoling entered her room and closed the door behind it, leaving the Inkling alone with her videogame, who soon was ready to fight other people with her main, Isabelle.

* * *

She was escaping Kamabo corporation once again. Looking around she noticed she didn't have a weapon, much like the first time, yet the Captain didn't say anything.

"Agent Eight, you don't have a weapon, so be careful, alright?" The voice of Marina came from her CQ-80, and she nodded in acknowledgement.

"You're gonna need to avoid getting noticed, Eight!" Pearl's voice came in "You can do it!"

She jumped and swam up a wall that was inked in her own purple color. Once at the top, she saw two moving platforms, coming and going, with two Sanitized Twintacle Octotroopers on each side.

"Enemies! Submerge and sneak by,"

Taking a deep breath to try and stay calm and collected, she waited for the platform coming to her to arrive, doing as Pearl said and hiding in the ink present there.

Getting to the other side was fairly easy, and she let out a sigh. She arrived at one of those checkpoints, but without being hooked up to their respective respawn points, they were as good as useless.

Then came a ramp, covered in her own ink. She knew how this was going to play out.

"If you move too quickly, you'll make splashes and be spotted!" Marina said, her voice full of worry.

She dove into the ink and slowly began swimming. She could hear the engines of the Octotroopers' vehicles as she swam past them, doing little to calm her down.

"Blerk... I think I'm gonna pass out from holding my breath..." She heard Pearl's voice say, when she was in the clear.

In front of her were two more Twintacles, hiding behind a pillar, then moving to each side of it, an inkrail in between being the only means of escape.

She waited a bit and timed her sprint so she was in the inkrail when the enemies where behind the pillar, successfully swimming up it and arriving once again to an useless checkpoint.

This time, a few ways away from her, two shielded Twintacles patrolled the platform, riding their vehicles along the sanitized ink. In between, there was normal, purple ink, with an inkrail at the end to allow escape.

She hid behind a small wall, just about right to serve as cover. "Those are spawn points!" Came Marina's panicked yet hushed voice "If you are spotted, enemies will come out of them!".

She waited a bit, then hid in the ink beside her. "No more ink! Wait until their backs are turned, and then go!" Pearl said, in that same panicky voice.

She went to jump into the ink towards the inkrail, yet she miscalculated the timing, and the Twintacles patrolling around noticed her, immediately firing their sanitized ink at her.

Beside her, two octopods materialized and ran up to her, exploding upon contact, blowing away her ink-resistant crop top.

Panicking and avoiding the -now three- sanitized Octarians' shots as best as she could, she made her way to the checkpoint once again, hiding behind the wall and sitting down with her back to it to calm herself as best as she could, taking deep breaths. She could hear the Octarians no longer firing their weapons, and sure enough, when she peeked around the corner she saw them patrolling once again.

"Holy shit, that was too close..." Pearl said, seemingly taking deep breaths too.

Once she felt her hearts weren't going to explode in her chest, and her crop top re-formed, she slowly got up and peeked around the corner once more.

In those few seconds, everything happened too fast.

She first heard Pearl shout something she couldn't quite catch, then came Marina's panicked scream, and finally the feeling of someone grabbing the collar of her crop top and slamming her against the wall.

Her hands instinctively went to the arm still holding her, and she took a good look of her assailant. The sanitized eyes and sickly green skin made it difficult to recognize who they were at first, but the clothes and flowing cape gave it away easily.

"No, no, no, no, no, n-" she heard Pearl's panicked voice, and she could swear Marina was frantically crying in the background.

She felt the fear beginning to set in once again, as Agent Three held her there, her lifeless eyes looking directly at hers.

"God, no! Please!" Marina frantically screamed, as Three readied her arm and sucker punched Eight directly on her face, knocking her to the ground.

She tried getting up, but it proved too difficult. She could taste ink in her mouth, and the tears beginning to come out of her eyes. Her hearts were beating a mile a minute as she looked up to her assailant from the ground.

Three looked down at her in turn, raising her Hero Shot and pointing it at her. Eight could still hear Marina's frantic crying coming from her CQ-80, and she honestly felt just as terrified as her.

She stared back into those lifeless, sanitized eyes, before Three pulled the trigger and splatted her for good.

She woke up screaming, clutching her chest and feeling her hearts beating as hard and fast as they had been in her dream.

She heard someone running towards her room, and sure enough, Amber burst in, making her scream in fright once again.

"What's wrong?" Amber practically shouted "you alright?"

Melody took deep breaths, nodding slowly.

Amber made her way to the Octoling's bed, sitting on the edge of it "what was that?" She asked, in a much more calm tone of voice.

"I... I had a nightmare..." Melody shyly replied.

"Do you... want to talk about it?"

"...Not really, but... I think it'd be best if I did,"

Amber nodded, moving to let Melody get up.

"Let's go to the living room, I'll make you some tea, alright?" The Octoling nodded absentmindedly.

Melody took out a pink sweater, wearing it over her nightgown, following Amber out of her room.

She made a beeline to the loveseat and sat down sideways on it, while her roommate went to the kitchen, starting to boil some water. Melody took a look at the TV in the room, noticing Amber had been playing that fighting game she had talked about yesterday, and had lost her last match. The fact that the controller was a few ways away from her, laying upside-down, made her realize she had thrown that game out to go check on her. She knew it wasn't a big deal or anything, but in her sad state it just made her feel worse.

A short time passed, with Amber coming back with two cups of steaming hot tea and set them down on the coffee table, then went back to the kitchen to get some sugar and spoons. She added three spoonfuls of it to her cup while Melody added two, both girls stirring their tea up.

"So," Amber began, taking the gaming system's controller and setting the console on sleep mode "what was your nightmare about?"

Melody took her cup in her hands and took a sip of tea from it. It was nearly scalding hot, yet she didn't really care about the temperature, she just wanted to calm herself down.

"I... I was back there... In the metro, I mean,"

Amber hummed, nodding softly "like, in a station or something?"

"N-no... I was..." She struggled for a way to explain where she had been, as she didn't really know herself "remember when you found me and the Captain in the blender?"

Amber visibly cringed, yet nodded again "Right before I got partially sanitized? Yeah, I remember,"

"Well... For me to escape Kamabo, I first had to super jump through the hole you made in the roof. I was there," the Octoling explained, her friend nodding to let her continue.

"It was all the same. I didn't have a weapon, I had to sneak by enemies..." She took a sip from her tea to calm herself down "Marina and Pearl talked to me too, but the Captain didn't say anything, as if... He wasn't there,"

"I-I... I swam up an inkrail, to a platform with two shielded Twintacles patrolling around, and some spawn points too... I ended getting noticed and two octopods appeared..."

"Wait... Those things that run up to you and explode?" Melody nodded "Yikes,"

"Yeah... They blew my crop top off, and I ran back to hide behind a wall near an useless checkpoint," Amber rose an eyebrow.

"Useless?"

"Y-yeah... I wasn't hooked up to any respawn point, so even if I activated the checkpoints, I wouldn't respawn" Amber sucked in air through her beak.

"But... That was just during your dream, right?" The Octoling shook her head no.

Amber visibly grimaced, and moved to set her half-empty cup on the coffee table. She had a feeling the worst was to come.

"A-anyway, I-I... I hid b-behind the wall, a-and..." Melody's voice began cracking up, and Amber could see the tears beginning to form in her purple eyes. She moved to take Melody's cup off her hands and leaving it on the coffee table, then brought said girl closer and hugged her.

Melody hugged her back, burying her head on the crook of her neck and crying her hearts out. She had been terrified back there, and her nightmare had brought back all of those memories with a vengeance.

Amber slowly ran her hand along her back, moving a bit so they were partially laying down, with Melody on top of her.

"You were there..." Melody mumbled, moving back a bit so they could look at each other.

"I was there?" Amber parroted.

"Y-yeah... You w-were sanitized, and... You w-were gonna spl-"

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything else," the inkling interrupted, with the Octoling nodding and burying her head on Amber's chest again

"I w-was so afraid..." Melody began, not looking up at the girl she was clinging to "and n-not just in my dream, b-back when I was escaping for real too..."

"I'm sure you were, sweetie, but you're here now, right?" Amber asked, with Melody giving her the slightlest of nods "that means you made it safely out. There's no need to worry anymore,"

"I-I know that... It's just... t-thinking about how close I came to... to d-dying for real terrifies me..."

Amber hugged her harder, struggling to come up with words. She felt sad for Melody, but she also felt... angry, but at herself.

"So, in your dream..." She began "I was the one that... Fought you, yes?"

"Yeah..." Melody's voice came in a near whisper

"And we fought when you were just about to leave Kamabo, right?"

The Octoling nodded against her chest.

"You know I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you, right?"

Melody slowly detached herself from the hug, looking at her in a pensive sort of way "I know, but... why d'you say that?" Amber shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe you were, like, scared of me," Melody's face turned into a frown.

"Would I be laying down with you if I were scared?" Amber shrugged once again.

"Well, maybe not me, but Agent Three,"

Melody opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it as no words came out. She could faintly remember the propaganda posters, the fighting tales, the faint whispers...

She knew all octarians weren't in any actual danger inside of the domes -they were all hooked to close enough respawn points, after all- yet getting spatted was still a scary experience, and with the way Three fought...

"I know it sounds... I don't wanna say egotistical, but I... I can't really think of another word right now," Melody focused her sights on Amber once again, and noticed tears beginning to form in her friend's eyes. She began feeling kind of guilty for it.

"I-I... I know the Metro was weird. Moreso than weird, actually, it was fucked up, and I don't doubt you are scared of it, but maybe, you're scared of Agent Three, too,"

Thinking about it, she sure as hell was scared of Agent Three, and how could she not? She had been the one who singlehandedly defeated Octavio, four octoweapons, splatted a lot of Octarians, and nearly splatted her when she wasn't hooked up to a respawn point. Twice.

The first time they fought was still a hazy memory, but she knew she had been scared. She could have died at the hands of Agent Three that day, and had it not been for something attacking all of them, she probably would have.

"I... Maybe you're right..." Melody conceded "Maybe I am scared of Agent Three..." Amber nodded softly, looking away.

"But, I'm not scared of you,"

Amber looked at her confusedly, searching her eyes for... She didn't know, really.

"...What do you mean?" She said, after a bit of silence.

"You made the distinction earlier, too. Sure, Agent Three might be this big, mean Inkling, but Amber is this sweet girl who gave me a place to stay when I got to the surface,"

Amber chuckled, and wiped a tear from her eye "c'mon, I was the one doing the comforting..."

Melody giggled along with her, then went to hug her again. Laying down with her just... Felt right, for some reason.

"I mean it, though. Where would I be now if you hadn't offered to take me in?" Amber chuckled softly.

"At Marina's place?"

"...Yeah, most likely," they giggled "but for real, even though we barely know each other, I feel like... I can really trust you," Amber smiled softly.

"It's really nice to hear you say that,"

Melody smiled back at her, hugging her closer. She could feel her eyelids drooping as she started to become drowsy once again.

"Can we stay like this?" She quietly asked, burying her face on Amber's shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't mind,"

Melody hummed appreciatively, getting comfortable and closing her eyes, with Amber wrapping her arms around her waist and doing the same.

What was that warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest, though?


	4. The Discovery

"Marina! Before we announce the stages, why don't you share the breaking news?"

"Breaking news? What did you break this time?"

"I didn't break anything! I was talking about the Splatfest results!"

"OOH! The Splatfest results are in!"

Melody turned away from the big screen on Deca Tower to look at Amber, a big smile on her face "Who d'you think won this Splatfest?"

"I honestly don't know, but I think it's gonna be pretty close," Amber said, turning to look back at the screen "I guess we'll find out soon,"

"Aight, first let's see which team was the most popular,"

"Let's find out!"

Both girls looked excitedly at the screen, most specifically at those popularity numbers, until...

"BLAM!"

55.95% vs. 44.04% popularity, in favor of team Octopus. Melody was positively beaming.

"Aw, man..."

"Yesssssssss,"

"All right, all right, all right... Now for the part that matters,"

"Yeah, popularity isn't everything,"

"Time to see which team won the most battles!"

"Please please pleeeeeease!"

"Well, here goes nothing," Amber said, silently rooting for her team.

"BUH-BAM!"

Melody's smile vanished completely as the results were displayed. Sure, team Octopus had the most popularity, but team Squid had both most solo wins and team wins.

"Huh, would you look at that," Amber said, a smug smirk on her face "24 Super Sea Snails for me,"

Melody huffed and crossed her arms "Rigged,"

Amber giggled and laid a comforting hand on the octoling's shoulder "Come on, not every Splatfest that you lose is rigged,"

"Yeah, I guess..." Melody conceded "Well, I still had fun, and 21 Super Sea Snails is still pretty nice,"

Amber smiled at her, turning to look at the two idols on the screen in their usual post-Splatfest banter, then turned to grate near Ammo Knights, then looked back at Melody. With everyone distracted by Off the Hook, it was the perfect time to sneak out.

"Well, I guess I should get going. I'll call you when I get back, alright?"

Melody nodded softly "Alright! Be safe, okay?"

"I will, don't worry,"

They gave each other a friendly hug, then Amber turned around and walked to the grate, falling thought it in squid form when nobody was looking.

Melody sighed softly, then turned to Deca Tower, going to one of the seats near the outside of it and sitting down.

She had been living in Inkopolis for a little over two months now. She had gotten a part-time job over at Ammo Knights to help with rent, while Amber had been busy doing, in her words, "agent stuff", which was basically scout around Octo Canyon or Octo Valley and help octolings get to Inkopolis safely.

She herself had gone on some missions with her, along with Amy, and most of them were... Pretty boring, actually. They were spent talking and walking around, and they were lucky if they encountered a single octoling, which most of the time came along nicely.

That didn't mean they weren't wary of the NSS, and some had tried to attack them when their backs were turned, which was pretty dangerous considering they —the octolings— were too far away from respawn points to get respawned, so they —the agents— had to use as little force as possible to avoid splatting them accidentally.

So far they had had some close calls, but nothing to worry about. They had successfully brought ten or so Octolings to Inkopolis. Some were even Melody's friends!

She smiled softly to herself, she should probably check up on them soon.

Thinking of the octolings made her remember how she came to the city, which in turn made her think about Amber.

A warm and fuzzy sensation made itself present in her chest, a sensation she had gotten quite familiar with.

It had also been two months since she first experienced it, after all. She had first felt it after she hugged Amber on the couch after a particularly disturbing nightmare.

The morning after, she had woken up with her arms still wrapped around Amber's midsection, the Inkling sleeping peacefully underneath her with her arms wrapped protectively around Melody's waist.

That had made that weird feeling in her chest come back, and she had honestly gotten worried about it. Seeing her friend peacefully asleep, she slipped out of the embrace, went to her room to grab a blanket she laid over Amber, then went back to check her phone.

She opened up her device's internet browser, then began typing on the search engine.

_Burning sensation in my chest_

Most of the results weren't really helpful. Most suggested heartburn, which was an illness and she didn't feel sick or anything. She should rephrase her search.

_Warm and fuzzy sensation in my chest_

Her heart nearly stopped at the search results. Love!? That couldn't be it, surely. She wasn't in love with Amber. She couldn't be in love with Amber. Being with a person of the same sex was punishable by death back in the domes, and why would Inkopolis be any different? Maybe not death, but still a punishable offense, surely.

She had been happy to ignore her search results. After all, her first search said she had heartburn, which she didn't, so it wasn't really reliable, right?

Yet after that day, she started noticing more and more things about Amber, like the way she walked, or the way she smiled, or how she liked to twirl her Dualies in her hands, or how she smiled after a win, or how she—

Yeah, she had feelings for Amber, alright.

Present-day Melody sighed, going to her phone's notes app and staring at the single note she had written a little over a month ago.

_My hearts explode with you around_

_Is it okay to feel this way?_

_The laws keep me forever bound_

She shook her head at it, closing the app and sliding her phone into her jacket's pocket. She really needed to clear her head now, and Deca Tower's music reminded her of where she was.

She smiled to herself, standing up and heading towards the entrance.

There's nothing a good and fun turf war match couldn't fix.

She was wrong.

* * *

By the time she gave up on trying to clear her head, the stages had even changed.

She walked out of Deca Tower with her Octobrush over her shoulder, sitting down on the same spot she had before.

"Aerosprays are good for coverage!" She mumbled to herself, in a mocking tone "yeah, not so much when you keep getting splatted, for fuck's sake,"

The young octoling sighed. She hadn't been able to concentrate much. No matter what she was doing, her thoughts always ended up drifting to Amber.

She really needed to talk about this to someone, but who? It would be weird to talk to Cuttlefish about it, as it would be to talk to the Squid Sisters.

She brought her hand up to her chin in thought. Maybe Amy? She was her friend, and they were the same age, yet Melody wasn't really sure if she could trust her with something like this.

Melody sighed softly, looking at the news studio nearby and noticing its emptiness.

She grew a small smile, took out her phone and messaged Marina's number.

_Marinaaaa, you busy?_

She took a moment to reply.

_Nah, I'm lazing around at my place, why?_

_I really need to talk to someone, can we meet?_

_Oh, sure! I know this great place we could go to!  
__I've got to finish something, so what do you say I go pick you up at your place in like an hour?_

Melody smiled softly, getting up from where she was sitting.

_Sounds good! _❤️

_Okay! I'll see u there! _🎵

Pocketing her phone, she prepared a super jump, arriving at her and Amber's apartment building in no time at all.

Entering the building and after the short elevator ride up, she made a small mental list of what she'd do. First she'd take a shower, put on some nice clothes, maybe style her hair, wait for Marina and tell her everything that had been on her mind lately.

If anyone would understand her, it had to be her.

* * *

Amber idly checked her Hero Shot as she walked around Octo Canyon. She ran her hand over its surface, noticing the small scratches and indents it had accumulated over time.

Her eyes wandered to where Marie and Amy were, a few ways away from her, chatting happily as they held each other's hand. Marie had her older model Hero Charger strapped to her back, while Amy held her newer model Hero Shot with her free hand.

Amy looked back, meeting Amber's gaze and happily beckoning her over.

"Why are you so far away?" She asked as Amber made her way to them.

"I dunno, I figured you two wanted to be alone together," Amy giggled softly, linking her arm with hers.

"Come on, we don't want you to be the third wheel, either," she said with a smile, with Marie nodding beside her "What's on your mind?" Amber smiled back.

"Just thinking about how your Hero Shot looks better than mine. Could I get an upgrade?" Marie shook her head no, a smirk on her face "Aaaw, why not?"

"Because that model's special, just for Four," Amber rolled her eyes, while Amy giggled and buried her head on the crook of Marie's neck.

"What, do I have to, like, get together with Callie to get one?" Marie chuckled in response.

"Well, you certainly could. You know she had a thing for you in the past, right?" Amber giggled softly, kicking a pebble away.

"Yeah, she wasn't really subtle about it,"

Amy looked back and forth between them, before she spoke up "Wait, Callie had a thing for you?" Amber nodded "And you didn't take her up on it?"

"Well, I was in a relationship at the time, with a guy whose name I'd rather forget," she frowned for a bit, then her face returned to a more neutral expression "I don't even think I swing that way, to be honest,"

"Huh, I thought you and Melody were together..." Amy mumbled, with Amber chuckling in response.

"How has she been, by the way?" Marie asked.

"She's been doing great in her job at Ammo Knights, and she's had less nightmares lately. We sometimes do League Battles together, too,"

"Ooh, what's her rank?" Amy asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.

"Her best rank is S+5 in Splat Zones. The fact that she reached S+ in just two months is really surprising,"

"Well, she was training to become an octoling warrior," Marie spoke up "She's probably more experienced than anyone in the lower ranks,"

"Yeah, I guess so," Amber smiled softly "I'm really happy she's been doing great. The gods know she deserves it after all she's been through,"

"Yeah, kid's gone through hell and back," Marie agreed, subconsciously squeezing Amy's hand tighter "It's nice to hear she's doing well,"

"Yeah, I'm really happy for her," Amber smiled softly "it's nice to have a roomie again, too,"

The three agents continued their patrol, chatting happily with each other.

* * *

"So, how have you been, Melody?" Marina asked, taking a small portion of her crabby cake with her fork.

The place they had gone to was nothing short of fancy. Melody felt so out of place she was starting to feel this hadn't been as good as an idea as she had thought.

Nevertheless, she smiled "I've been really good this past few months. I started working at Ammo Knights a few weeks ago. The engineering classes back in the domes come in handy when explaining how a weapon works to Inklings," Marina smiled back.

"That's really nice!"

"Well, what about you? How have you been?"

"I've been fine too. We were planning on releasing a new single soon. The song's all done and all, we just need to record it" Melody perked up at that.

"Oh, what's it gonna be called?"

" '_Into the Light_'... I... I hope you don't mind me saying this, but the song was heavily inspired on you," Melody looked confusedly at her for a second, before she continued "Pearl and I came up with it shortly after we were done with _Fly Octo Fly_. It represents a change in life, partly because of you escaping from the metro and octarian society as a whole, and..." She moved in to whisper the next part "partly from all the octolings now living in Inkopolis,"

Melody nodded slowly. This was the second Off the Hook song that Pearl and Marina had made while using her as inspiration. Pearl jokingly called her "Muse" from time to time, actually.

"Well, I can't wait to hear it!" She beamed, taking a bite of her own crabby cake.

"Well, what about Amber?" Marina asked, changing the subject "how's she doing?"

Just hearing her name made her heartbeat quicken, a small blush coloring her cheeks.

"O-oh, she's been good too... She's been busy somewhat with the other agents, helping other octolings reach Inkopolis safely, but when she isn't we usually work some Salmon Run shifts, or do League Battles," Marina smiled at her.

"I like how close you two are, it's kinda like Pearl and I," Melody shyly turned away, nodding slightly. Marina frowned, worried.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, "Did something happen?"

"N-no... I mean, y-yes, just..." Melody took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She suddenly felt like everyone in the room was watching her, even though she knew they weren't. Her eyes darted around the restaurant, as if she was going to catch someone staring back at her.

—Can we... Can we talk like this?— She asked in octarian, turning to meet the DJ's eyes once again. Marina raised an eyebrow at her.

—Sure, but why?— The younger octoling's blush intensified.

—I just... Don't want anyone to overhear...—

A small silence held itself for a few seconds, Marina wondering why Melody was so shy all of a sudden, moreso than she normally was.

—Marina... Have you... Do you like someone?— She finally asked.

The idol was taken aback by the question, yet she nodded slowly —Why do you ask?—

—W-well, it's just that... I've been... having these feelings lately... for a certain inkling, and... I was hoping... you could help me?—

—Oh, well, sure! But... Why me?—Melody's blush intensified a bit.

—W-well, y-you are the person I trust the most, after Amber...— Marina cocked her head to the side.

—But... Then why not ask her?—

—'cause... She's the one I have feelings for,— Marina's eyes widened in realization.

"...oh"

A small, awkward silence held itself for a few seconds, with Melody calmly panicking. A sense of dread slowly began forming inside her. Was it wrong to like people of your same gender, like in octarian society? Would Marina hate her for it?

—Is it... Is it wrong?— She asked quietly, almost whispering. She was a bit fearful of the answer.

—...no, Melody, it's totally okay,— Marina began —Inklings are much more progressive than Octarians, but still, some people look down on those kind of relationships,— Melody cocked her head to the side.

—Why?—

—Because they're idiots,—

The duo fell into silence once again, but a much less awkward one. Melody felt so much more at ease having said that. She was so glad to have a friend in Marina.

"Hey, are you okay?" Marina asked, reverting back to talking in inkling, interrupting Melody's train of thought.

"H-huh?" Marina giggled softly.

"You zoned out for a bit there," The younger octoling smiled shyly in embarrassment "I asked what you needed help with,"

"O-oh, well..." She smiled shyly "I... I don't know how to ask her... Or if I should..." Marina raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you should?" She parroted, receiving a nod from the younger octoling "Of course you should!" Melody once again avoided her gaze by looking to the side.

"It's just... W-what if she doesn't return my feelings? Won't... Won't things get awkward?"

"Well, not necessarily," Marina began "It won't be awkward if you don't make it awkward" Melody looked confusedly at her for a second.

"How so?"

"Well, of course it'll be awkward at first, but you two will forget about it eventually," Melody fidgeted in her seat.

"I really don't want her to reject me..." Marina gave her a soft smile, taking her hand in hers.

"Nobody wants to be rejected, but it's a risk we have to take," seeing as Melody still looked worried, she continued "I understand how you feel, I felt the same way when I first asked Pearl the same th—"

"Pearl!?" Melody interrupted, instantly covering her mouth from her loud outburst and Marina's stern gaze, then continued talking, albeit much more softly "You and Pearl are... together?"

"Yeah, we have been together for..." She brought her hand to her chin in thought "A year and a half, if I remember correctly," She continued, smiling to herself "as I was saying, I felt the same way when I asked her out. I was nervous and fearful because I too didn't want to ruin everything we had,"

"So... what made you do it?"

"I realized something you should, too," Marina said in a sweet tone "You'll never know if you don't ask, Melody. This might sound cliché, but would you rather live with what-ifs or with the real thing?" Melody fidgeted in her seat and looked away.

"I... I suppose I'd like the real thing..."

"Then there's your answer," Marina took one of the younger girl's hands in hers, smiling sweetly "even if she doesn't return your feelings, you can still be friends afterwards,"

Marina's smile proved to be infectious, and soon Melody found herself smiling back, but there still was one thing left...

"Well, how should I... ask her?" Marina once again held her chin in thought.

"Hmm, there's not really a proper way to ask someone out," Melody's nervousness increased somewhat, something that Marina sure picked up on "But don't worry! You'll know when the time's right,"

Melody nodded softly, yet she still was unsure about it "what should I do then? Like, how do I ask her out?"

Marina once again brought her hand up to her chin in thought "well... You probably should first find out how she feels about same-sex couples. She seems reasonable to me, so I don't think she's against them,"

"Then, when you think the moment's right, you should ask her if she'd be willing to go out on a date with you,"

Melody looked awkwardly to the side. Marina made it sound so easy, but was it really like that?

"Hey," her eyes snapped back to meet the DJ's "I know you are worried, but if you play your cards right, there won't be anything to worry about, okay? Trust me," She again put a reassuring hand on top of hers.

The younger octoling smiled at the gesture, and nodded a bit more firmly.

She really was glad she had a friend in Marina.

* * *

She arrived at the Square some time after Amber had called her, looking around Deca Tower to see if she could spot her in the crowd of Inklings and Octoling gathered there.

She soon spotted her near the entrance as she waved her over, the octoling smiling softly and walking over to her.

''You arrived here fast. Where were you?'' Amber asked when the octoling was still a few ways away from her, but close enough for her voice to be heard.

''I met up with Marina, and she drove me here on her bike,'' she moved to embrace her friend in a hug, which she happily returned.

''That's nice,'' Amber detached herself from the hug, noticing how Melody seemed to be a little bit more clingy than usual, but eh, it was probably nothing ''So, ready for some matches?''

''Sure! What's the game mode?''

''There's still some minutes left of Tower Control, and the game mode changes to Splat Zones after that,''

Melody smiled softly, nodding ''Let's do it, then,''

Both girls walked inside, hoping to raise those League Points.

* * *

"it's getting pretty late. Let's super jump back home,"

"Uh, actually..." Melody said, looking at the floor and not meeting Amber's eyes "could we walk back? The moon looks really pretty tonight..."

Amber really wanted to just get to her bed and sleep, but she wasn't going to deny her friend's request. After all, walking for a few minutes couldn't hurt, right? "Uh, yeah, sure, I guess we can"

"Great! Lead the way, then"

Melody hadn't been lying when she said the moon looked pretty. She always had been captivated by it for some reason, but tonight it was the brightest and prettiest moon she had seen.

She shivered a bit at the cold of the night, and wondered how Amber was seemingly unfazed by it, wearing only a shirt, skirt and shorts versus her own sweater and leggings.

"Aren't you cold, Amber?"

"Nah, not really" Amber turned to look at her, smiling "you get used to it after living here for four years"

Melody smiled back, and then turned to see where she was walking.

Like the moon, Amber too looked really pretty tonight, even in her casual wear. Melody tried to look at her out of the corner of her eye, but couldn't really appreciate every feature on her perfect face.

"Is something wrong?"

Apparently, she hadn't been very subtle. She felt a slight blush forming when she turned her head fully to meet the inkling's eyes.

Gods, those azure eyes...

"N-no, nothing's wrong"

"_Nice work Melody,_" she thought "_Real smooth_"

Amber smiled at that "come on, I know something's troubling you. You don't need to be shy around me, sweetie"

That last word made her blush even harder. How did she do that? How did she have that effect on her?

"I'm serious, Amber... There's really nothing wrong"

The inkling stopped walking, prompting the octoling to stop walking too. Amber had a worried frown on her face.

"You say that, but I'm not lying when I say I know there's something troubling you,"

She took the octoling's hands on hers.

"Keeping things bottled up isn't good for you, Melody,"

Her hearts were beating faster than they had ever beat before. Should she confess her feelings now? Was this the moment Marina had told her about earlier?

"I... Well, I think I may have feelings..." She looked to the sides to see if there was anyone else in the street "feelings for someone, I mean,"

She met Amber's eyes with that last word, and could see the way her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Aww, my little Melody is in love with someone!" She said, still grabbing on to the octoling's hands "who is he? Tell me!"

Melody let out a nervous laugh, partly because of her friend's enthusiasm and partly because of the whole situation.

"W-well... It's not actually a 'he'..."

"O-oh!" Amber was surprised by the sudden revelation, but still kept the smile on her face "so it's a girl, then? Well duh, of course it's a girl! Doesn't change anything, who's she?"

She didn't look to be taken aback by her sexuality, which put Melody slightly more at ease. Nevertheless, she still was nervous about it. Should she really tell her or avoid the question?

"_You'll never know if you don't ask, Melody_" Marina's words echoed in her head.

"_Even if she doesn't return your feelings, you can still be friends afterwards_,"

"...Promise me you won't be mad?"

Amber raised an eyebrow, smiling even more "Why would I be mad?"

Melody took a deep breath, closed her eyes and then let out a sigh. "_This is it_," she thought "_I really hope I don't end up regretting this..._"

"Melody? Are yo— _hmph!_"

She quickly bought her lips to Amber's, stealing a kiss from her.

It was the best sensation ever. Her lips were so soft, just like her hands which she still was holding. Her hearts were beating so hard and fast, it was unreal.

Oh, how she wished she could stop time and just enjoy this feeling forever.

Actually, scratch that. She wished to turn back in time and kiss her again. Maybe multiple times.

In reality, it hadn't been more than 2 seconds until she pulled back, and opened her eyes to look at Amber once again.

Her insides turned up in a knot. Amber looked shocked, any and all trace of a smile totally vanished from her face.

God, what the fuck did she just do.

Melody realized how big of a fuck up she was in. She started to panic. What the fuck should she do now!? Well apologize, obviously.

"I... S-sorry…"

Melody's words snapped Amber out of her shock, prompting her to look at the octoling's eyes again. Staring back at Amber just brought fear to the young Octoling, understandably so.

"A-ah... It's okay..." Amber took a deep breath, calming herself down a bit "let's... Let's just get home..."

"Y-yeah... Let's,"

"_Gods, I'm so stupid.._."

* * *

The rest of the walk back had been the most awkward moment in both of the girl's lives.

Melody wanted to apologize for kissing her out of the blue, but at the same time was too ashamed to say anything.

Amber also wanted to apologize, but felt embarrassed about the whole situation.

What that caused was an uncomfortable and uneasy silence between the girls, which neither was willing to break.

Melody recognized the street they were in as the street where the inkling's apartment was, and sure enough, they soon were inside the building and riding up the elevator to the fourth floor.

Amber reached inside her pocket and took out her keys, unlocking the door and letting them in.

Melody closed and locked the door behind her, looking around the apartment to avoid Amber's gaze.

"Hey, uh... I'm feeling really tired, so I'm gonna turn up for the night. Goodnight, Melody,"

Melody smiled sadly at that "Goodnight, Amber. Sleep well,"

"You too," She said, without turning back and closing her room's door behind her.

With that, the octoling was left completely alone. She let out a sigh, tears starting to cloud her vision.

How could something be so perfect one moment and so horribly wrong the next?

She decided to just go to sleep. It had just been a bad day. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.

Sobbing quietly, she made her way to her room, left her phone charging in the nightstand, changed out of her clothes into her pajamas and then laid down on her bed.

The darkness of the room did nothing to help lessen up her gloomy mood. Even her own bioluminescent tentacles didn't help much in that regard.

She felt tired, but not physically so, more like mentally. She remembered her conversation with Marina earlier, and more tears fell from her face as she recalled she promised to tell her how it went.

What would she even tell her? _'Oh hi, Marina! I did as you said and fucked everything up!_'.

Well, in retrospective, she hadn't really done as Marina had said. She just fucked everything up herself.

Turning around, she curled up in a ball and closed her eyes. Why did she do that? Why was she so stupid?

"_I really hope Amber doesn't hate me..._"

With that thought in mind, she fell into an unrelaxing and dreamless sleep.


	5. The Feelings

Amber opened her eyes, and with a yawn and a stretch of her arms, she took her phone from under her pillow and checked the time. 11:17 A.M.

It was neither too early nor too late, the perfect time for waking up.

Checking her squidstagram feed, she saw she had three messages. She checked each one of them, the first being one of a friend, replying to an older message she had sent two days ago.

Choosing to ignore it, she moved on to the next one, which was from her little brother. It was just a meme, causing her to laugh, double tap on the screen and ask him how things at home were.

Last message was from Pearl, replying to her story.

_Ayy, where did 8 get that hat? She looks cool_

They had taken a selfie after a Tower Control match, both girls smiling at the camera, with Melody hugging her from behind and resting her head on her shoulders while she took the picture.

The hat Pearl talked about was the Conductor Cap. Melody had said a guy in the Deepsea Metro had given it to her, along with some other clothes and gear.

To be fair, it looked really cute on her, and with the way she smiled...

She was cute overall.

Looking at the Octoling's face in the photo made her remember the events of last night. The last Splat Zones match they played, the walk back home, her pestering to get Melody to tell her who she liked...

"_The kiss..._"

Remembering back the kiss made her blush. She didn't like it, of course. She was totally unprepared for it and felt really awkward afterwards, but at the same time...

She didn't dislike it, either.

It had been really sweet and loving. It made her remember her first kiss all those years ago, when she still was a young inkling with no idea about proper kissing. She couldn't bring herself to be angry at the Octoling's actions.

She supposed she could ignore it and get on with their day. Those league points weren't going to earn themselves!

With a smile, she got dressed in her Octo Layered LS and shorts and headed for the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

She figured she couldn't go wrong with some eggs and toast. Taking a frying pan and a manual toaster, she got to work.

The scrambled eggs were halfway into the cooking process when she heard the sound of a door opening and closing. Looking behind her, she saw Melody exiting her room and slowly making her way towards her.

She was donning her White Inky Rider and the Conductor Cap —just like she had yesterday— along with her usual skirt and shorts which complimented her legs really well.

She looked distraught and uneasy. Amber could very much guess why, but she didn't want to fuck things up further.

"Good morning, Melody! You hungry?" She cheerily greeted, turning to the eggs and scrambling them some more.

"A-ah... Yeah, good morning," Melody replied back.

She felt so uneasy and weird. Last night she had hoped Amber would just forget about what happened so both of them could move on with their lives, like she was doing just now.

Then why the fuck did she still feel like this?

Sighing, she walked over to the sink and poured herself a glass of water, both to quench her thirst and calm herself down.

Amber finished cooking the eggs and toast. Turning off the stove's burners, she moved the frying pan and toaster to plates, putting them on the table, then put two individual plates for both of them.

Both she and the Octoling sat down to eat. Amber started putting some eggs on her toast, then rose it up to her mouth to take a bite.

"Are we really not going to talk about it?"

Amber stopped the motion, then set the toast down. This was the exact thing she didn't want to happen.

A small silence held itself for a few seconds, before Melody spoke once again.

"I... I know what I did was wrong. I want to apologize for... Kissing you like that,"

Both girls blushed at that. Amber had to admit though, it took some courage to ask for forgiveness after something like that.

"I... It's okay, Melody. It really is," Amber took hold of the Octoling's hands "I'm gonna be honest with you, I've never been attracted to a girl before,"

That crushed Melody's hearts into a million, sharp, tiny pieces that tore up her insides. She felt like crying again. How could she say it was okay!?

"But... At the same time, I've never feel as deep a connection with anyone else before, not even past boyfriends,"

That took Melody's attention.

"W-what do you mean?"

"What I'm saying is... I'm willing to give this a shot,"

Melody thought she had died and gone to heaven. She felt the blush from before coming back with a vengeance.

"A-are you serious?"

Amber smiled "of course I'm being serious. I'd never joke about your feelings, sweetie,"

She used that word again. The magical word that made her chest flutter up and bought shy smiles to her face.

"What do you say, after we eat breakfast, we go do some league battles, then go for a drink? You know, like a date,"

"Y-Yes!'' She replied, nodding enthusiastically ''Yes, I'd like that very much,"

''Then it's settled," Amber took her phone out and opened up SplatNet 2, before groaning "of course it's fucking Clam Blitz..." Melody giggled.

"What's the next one, then?"

Amber tapped on the screen a few times "It's Rainmaker, in about... Half an hour, on Moray Towers and Ancho-V Games. I can dig that. What do you think?"

"Okay, let's do that"

She smiled sweetly to the Inkling, and soon both girls were making their way to the square.

* * *

"Grab it and reset it! It's too close to the goal!" Amber yelled back at her "Us three will be waiting for it at the center!"

Melody nodded, using her Splattershot Pro to break away the Rainmaker's shield while her teammates rushed for the center of the map.

Breaking it, she did as she was told, taking it and then falling off the map on purpose.

She evaporated on thin air, and a few seconds later, she was back at the respawn point. She shook herself a bit, then prepared a super-jump.

She arrived next to the Octoling boy using an E-liter, who was a few ways away from the action. She could see Amber firing away at the rainmaker with her Dapple Dualies, alongside an inkling boy with a Tri-slosher.

She got down there to help, noticing the Octoling boy behind her move to the raising platform closer to him, splatting down one of their opponents.

She arrived just in time to grab the rainmaker as the shield exploded. An Octoling began running towards her with her Inkbrush, but was easily sniped down by the E-liter player.

"Two down! This way!" The unknown inkling boy yelled, inking down the wall and swimming up it, with Amber and Melody following suit.

Melody fired down the rainmaker, putting every bit of pressure as she could to the enemy team. He saw the E-Liter guy station near the other raising platform, on the same level as them, and gave her a signal to go ahead.

She swam on the ink until she was right next to him. At this point, the two opponents had respawned, and were fiercely fighting back to win along with the rest of their team.

Both Octolings fired down their weapons, keeping them at bay while Amber rushed forward and began fighting them directly.

She first encountered the brush user. Dodging back, she used the distance to her advantage, splatting her. Next came an inkling boy with a Slosher, fiercely lunging ink at her.

She dodge-rolled most of the hits, but still took one too many. Getting close to the boy, he splatted him too before getting splatted herself at the same time.

The Tri-slosher user charged forward, turfing as best as he could and activating his ink armor special. He splatted a guy near the goal, but was splatted himself by the remaining inkling wielding a pair of Dualie Squelchers before the ink armor could take effect on him.

"He's the only guy alive, go go go!" The Octoling next to Melody shouted, taking aim at the inkling.

She swam forward, getting into humanoid form and firing at him. He dodged to the side, then dodged to the side again, making the charger's shot miss.

She knew he had her beaten in terms of range and firing rate, so she chose to ignore him and swim to the goal.

She could hear the ink shots whiffing past her, some even actually hitting her in the process. Her ink armor had already vanished and she was close to getting splatted when finally the charger got a clear shot and splatted the boy.

With a sigh of relief, she turned back to humanoid form and shot at the goal to make the path easier to swim through. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Inkbrush girl running towards her, but it was all in vain. She swam up the goal and put the Rainmaker there.

A loud whistle rang, and her team was declared the winner. She smiled and super jumped back to their respawn point, where the four of them were transported back to the lobby.

* * *

"I must say, you two are pretty good" the Octoling boy pointed out "by the way, I'm Luke, and this is my boyfriend, Jamie," Said inkling smiled and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

"It's nice to meet you two," Amber smiled "I'm Amber, and this here is Melody. Your backlining was one of the best I've ever seen,"

"Yeah, Luke's really good with the E-Liter. We actually met after he alone splatted me six times in a match," Jamie and the rest of the team laughed "by the way, you were really good with the Rainmaker, Melody. Offensive, but not over-commiting to it. That's really smart of you,"

Melody smiled "Yeah, that's a tactic I learnt from Amber," she looked at her, their eyes meeting "She's a great teach,"

"Are you two gonna continue doing league battles?" Luke asked, a hopeful tone on his voice.

Amber smiled, taking Melody's hand in hers "I'm sorry to disappoint, but we kind of need to go somewhere else right now. Right, Melody?"

Her breath caught in her throat "Y-yeah, right..." She nervously confirmed, intertwining their fingers together.

"Ooh, that's a shame" Jamie said, taking out his phone "Let's at least exchange numbers. I'd love to play again with you two sometime,"

Amber nodded, taking out her phone with her left hand and giving her number and Melody's to the couple, registering their phone numbers as well. After that, they bid their goodbyes and were soon walking away from Deca Tower into Inkopolis Square, still holding hands.

"Hmm, I'm not feeling 'fancy', so how does the Crust Bucket sound?"

The Octoling smiled "that sounds nice,"

The two friends walked to the food truck near the end of the square, greeting Crusty Sean there.

"What's kraken, squids? What can I get you both?"

Amber ordered a lemon-flavored drink while Melody ordered an apple-flavored one.

Saying their thanks, both girls headed to one of the square's tables. Amber moved one of the chairs so they were side-by-side instead of in front of each other, then both girls sat down to enjoy each other's company.

"Those two were really nice," Melody began "I'd like to get to know them better,"

"They did say they wanted to play again some time in the future. We could go for 4-squid teams in league battles," Melody giggled softly.

"All you do is think about those league points, don't you?" Amber smiled and winked.

"Yep!"

The slightly younger girl giggled and took a sip from her drink, staring at a jellyfish skateboarding nearby, while Amber took out her phone stealthily and took a picture of her without her noticing.

Melody turned at the sound of the camera, and jokingly frowned at the inkling.

"You look adorable," the girl said, turning the phone to let her see. It was a profile shot, showing her resting her chin on her knuckles, her purple eyes looking at the distance distractedly "Mind if I upload it?"

She smiled and shook her head, leaning on Amber's shoulder to watch her phone.

"Hmm... Should I put a filter over it? Make it look more... I don't know, artistic?"

Melody giggled "it's just a photo, Amber,"

"Yeah, but you look really cute in it! Hmm... I'll put a sticker here" she dropped down a menu and put a beating heart next to her "There! Now it's as trendy as it can get," Melody giggled again.

"You inklings obsess over everything,"

"I'm currently obsessing over you,"

Melody didn't expect that answer, turning her into a stuttering mess "A-ah, I... Um..." The Inkling giggled softly, causing the Octoling to blush heavily.

"You are so easy to fluster, I love that," Amber smiled, moving her hands so she was gently caressing Melody's face. She simply tried to avoid her gaze, looking downwards at her drink.

The Inkling giggled softly to herself once again, scooting back a bit and letting Melody be. The younger girl didn't say anything, yet she really would have liked her to continue.

''Hey,'' the Inkling said softly, the younger girl finally moving to meet her pretty blue eyes ''How about we go to a park?''

The girl gave her a shy smile, nodding slightly ''I think I'd like that,''

* * *

Melody was sure she couldn't be happier even if she tried to. She currently was being led a nearby park by Amber.

The Octoling smiled broadly at the sight of their hands interconnected while they walked together, Amber a few steps ahead of her. It was like one of those cutesy ''couple goals'' pictures she saw one time on the internet.

They eventually arrived at a park near the edge of the city, just beside a small hill. The park, apart from the greenery and trees you'd expect it to have, also had small playgrounds for children to play in, along with small basketball and volleyball courts. Some food trucks were stationed near the edges, offering different kinds of snacks.

Both girls sat down on a bench under the shade of a tree. They were right in front of one of the playgrounds full of stage three and four Inklings running around, under the protective gaze of their parents or older brothers and sisters.

Melody smiled to herself while seeing the children playing around. She'd always liked children, and she actually hoped she could have one sometime in the future.

''Penny for your thoughts?'' Amber asked, tilting her head to the side while smiling at her.

''Not much,'' Melody replied, turning to smile back at her ''just watching the kids play around,'' Amber chuckled softly.

''That sounds kinda creepy,'' Melody laughed along with her.

''You know that's not what I meant!'' She moved to gently rest her head on her date's shoulder, said girl moving in turn to hug the Octoling's waist one-armedly.

''I have never seen Inkling children before…'' Melody spoke up again, continuing to watch the young Inklings running around ''It's surprising how alike they are to Octoling children,''

''Well, our species are pretty alike as it is,'' The inkling spoke up ''It's no wonder why everyone still thinks all the Octolings in Inkopolis are Inklings with weird hairstyles,'' Melody giggled softly.

''Yeah, that's true,'' She replied, absentmindedly playing with Amber's nearest tentacle. As she watched those younger Inklings and their parents, she imagined some of them to be Octolings instead, and softly smiled to herself.

''…What do you think will happen once people find out?'' she asked shyly, turning a bit to look at Amber.

''Once people find what out?'' She asked back.

''You know, that we aren't Inklings…'' The Octoling's voice was full of worry, and it wasn't hard for the Inkling to guess why.

''Hmm, I don't think much will happen…'' The inkling replied ''I mean, you all have been here for some months already, so when… if people find out, they'll just brush it off, I guess,'' Melody nodded softly after a while and moved to rest her head on Amber's shoulder once again.

''I really hope you're right…''

Amber's expression turned into a frown, then smiled again as she had an idea.

''Hey, why don't we go up the hill?'' She asked ''The forest's pretty, and it's much quieter. We could talk more there,''

Melody turned to look at her, then to the small hill the Inkling was referring to. She could see the beginning of a path clearly, but then it was obscured by the foliage of the trees not long after.

Turning back to her date, she smiled sweetly and nodded ''I think I'd like that,''

With an equally as sweet smile, Amber took her hand and led her to the forest.

* * *

Melody followed close behind Amber, taking in the sights of the small forest they were in. The sound of children playing and screaming joyfully was replaced by the calmness of nature and the chirping of birds.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Amber spoke up, turning to meet her eyes. She nodded excitedly.

"Nothing comes close to this in the domes," Melody commented "This is all so..."

"Beautiful?" Amber suggested, after a bit of silence from the Octoling.

"... I was going to say fascinating, but that word works too," she smiled.

Amber took her hand in hers and continued leading her up the path until they came up to a tree a bit off to the side. It was much bigger than the others, perfect to sit down under it and talk.

"Are you sure here's okay?" Amber asked "we'd have to sit on the ground, and I'd hate to get your Rider dirty,"

"It's totally fine," Melody reassured, sitting down with her back to the tree's trunk, drawing her knees closer to her chest "If it gets dirty, I can always wash it afterwards,"

"Hmm, I guess that's true," Amber said, sitting down beside her, Melody being quick so rest her head on her shoulder once again.

There was something so serene about it. The quietness of the forest, broken just by the rustling of leaves, the birds chirping or a child yelling way too loudly down below, made for a relaxing setting. Melody happily closed her eyes while taking the sounds of nature in while Amber took her hand once again.

"You know..." Amber began, breaking Melody away from her thoughts "I've been thinking lately, about the whole metro thing,"

Melody visibly tensed up just at the mention of the Metro, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Amber, who was quick to rub and caress her hand comfortingly.

"Y-you have?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about what you told me that night, how you almost..." Melody looked at her with an uneasy expression, prompting Amber to stop talking "yeah, that..."

"...Why?" Melody asked, genuinely curious.

"Not much, just thinking I also could have... Died there..."

Melody was confused for a few moments, then remembered Marina's life readings on sanitized octarians. In retrospective, Amber had been lucky to just have been partially sanitized, with virtually no side effects from the sanitized ink.

She could have died that day, just like herself, or the Captain, or the entire city of Inkopolis, for that matter.

"I'm so glad I saved you and the Captain," Amber spoke up again "you saved my life too, you know? Hell, you saved the entire city!"

Melody smiled softly at her "None of that would have been possible if you hadn't shown up,"

"But none of it would have mattered of you hadn't saved me," Amber replied back.

"I... I guess that's true," Melody conceded.

Melody moved to rest her head on Amber's shoulder once again, with the Inkling resting her own on the Octoling's. They stayed like this until the younger girl started talking once again.

"...do you think it was fate?" She asked, turning to meet her date's eyes. Amber smiled softly.

"I'm pretty skeptical about fate, so I wouldn't say it was,"

"Then what was?" Melody asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Well, I don't think either of us can answer that," the Inkling chuckled softly.

Amber began looking upwards, to the leaves of the trees around them, before she spoke up again "I like to think it was, like, a reward, or something like that,"

"A reward?" Melody parroted, receiving a nod "how come?"

"Well you had to go through all of those tests, and then escape Kamabo, to boot, but you got rewarded in the end by reaching Inkopolis at last," Melody nodded softly.

"What was your reward, then?"

"Heh, I dunno," Amber shrugged softly, so as to not disturb the Octoling "I guess it was you,"

Melody giggled softly, feeling a bright turquoise blush forming. She just leaned further into the Inkling before speaking "That was corny,"

Amber giggled along with her, nodding "Yeah, it was,"

The Inkling moved a bit, prompting Melody to move to so they were facing each other, Amber smiling softly before she began, "I think it was a pretty good reward, wouldn't you agree?"

Melody's turquoise blush intensified somewhat, yet she nodded her agreement.

"I... I think it's... Nice..."

The Inkling's smile turned into a smirk, as her eyes lidded somewhat and she slowly leaned forwards a bit "Mmmh, just nice?"

The Octoling's breath hitched on her throat at the closeness. Her eyes darted from the Inkling's face, to her smirk, to her eyes, then to her lips.

"I... Um..."

She fell silent again, Amber giggling softly as she got even closer to the other girl, who was busy trying not to have a panic attack. Her eyes gently lowered from her purple eyes to her lips, lingering there for a few seconds before she moved them up again.

"...Can I?"

Melody's brain stopped functioning for a few seconds at the question, and she took some time before she fully processed it. With her hearts beating hard in her chest and her breath coming in labored, she nodded her consent softly.

Amber's smile grew, before she leaned forward the rest of the way and fully connected their lips.

Melody's eyes widened involuntary, even though she had been expecting this, but she was able to calm down in the end and return the kiss to the best of her ability. She felt the Inkling's hands come to rest on each side of her face, holding her softly, while hers in turn went to Amber's waist.

They kissed for just a few seconds before they separated, left staring into each other.

"...more," Melody breathed, and Amber was more than happy to oblige.

Being able to feel those soft lips upon hers again brought forth a myriad of feelings from the young Octoling. This kiss certainly beat yesterday's, by a long shot.

Amber giggled into the kiss, softly caressing Melody all the while, before pulling back and looking at her with lust in her eyes.

"Why don't we go back to our place?" Amber whispered, lust practically dripping from her voice.

Melody looked at her, surprised "Y-you mean... Right now?"

"Yeah, if you want to, obviously,"

Melody took a deep breath, then nodded slightly.

Amber smirked "Great,"

The inkling got up, offering a hand to Melody to let her get up in turn, both girls walking down the path, into the park, and then waiting for a bus ride back home.

* * *

Amber took her hand and headed for the elevator, hitting the 4th floor button and then the one to close the doors.

Melody was a trainwreck inside. She could feel herself shaking, taking another breath to calm herself down.

Amber took notice of it, using her free hand to gently caress her face and give her a reassuring smile.

Melody felt as if everything was going to be alright as long as she was with this girl. Her worries were still there, but her smile put her much more at ease.

The doors opened, and they walked up to their apartment, Amber unlocking the door and letting them both in.


	6. The Love

The moment Melody had closed the door behind her, Amber pushed her against said object gently, longingly looking at her lips before she met the Octoling's gaze.

With just a little bit of hesitation, Melody nodded shyly at the unasked question, with Amber smiling and softly locking their lips together.

Melody gave a soft, sweet moan of appreciation, soon relaxing into it, closing her eyes and kissing back.

She was in heaven once again. Feeling those soft lips pressed against her own made her feel strange, but in a good way.

These kisses, these moments, they were just perfect.

Amber's hands began wandering on Melody's body. First they rested on her face, caressing her lovingly. Then, she moved on to her waist, bringing herself closer and deepening the kiss with a twist of her head. Lastly, she put them on the Octoling's hips, playing with the hem of her skirt.

Melody wasn't being all passive, either. The moment the kiss had begun, she had put her arms around the Inkling, softly embracing her, and then moved her hands to cup Amber's face when the Inkling pulled herself closer.

They separated for a short time to regain their breath, but were kissing again before long.

This time, Amber moved on for a bolder approach, lightly licking her lover's lips. The sudden contact made Melody gasp, which the Inkling took full advantage of.

Melody had never experienced any of this. Hell, she was fairly certain her first kiss had been the one she had stolen from Amber yesterday, so to say she had been unprepared for this would be an understatement.

Her tongue was easily dominated by Amber's more experienced one, but that made the whole exchange even more pleasurable for both parties.

While Amber knew how to twist and turn her tongue to maintain a certain pace and atmosphere, Melody was completely ignorant in kissing as a whole. She forced herself to calm down a bit and not rush things, following the Inkling's lead.

Their tongues twirled and intertwined inside Melody's mouth, like a sweet, slow dance between two first-time lovers, which wasn't too far away from the reality of the situation.

Amber's hands snaked up slowly from Melody's hips up to her chest, feeling her flat stomach in the process. She blindly began taking off her jacket, first undoing the belt around her waist, then lowering the zipper down and trowing it in the general direction of the loveseat in the room, leaving the Octoling in her Octo Tee.

Once the need to breathe became apparent once more, they separated. Melody had been so enraptured by the kiss that she pursued Amber's lips when she began pulling out, before she opened her eyes and disconnected from it.

Both girls were left panting, looking into each other with small smiles on their faces.

"Hey... Why don't we go to my room?"

At this point, Melody was physically and psychologically incapable of saying no, not that she would have, anyways.

Not trusting herself with words, she nodded, to which Amber smiled and took her hand, taking both of them to her bedroom.

Once there, and after removing their footwear, Amber pushed her down on the bed and straddled her. Melody could see a myriad of emotions swirling in her lover's eyes, a mix of desire, love, and unbridled passion. The fact she knew all those feelings were directed to her made her feel warm inside.

Amber slowly leaned down, just a few centimeters away from the Octoling. She smiled softly, almost shyly, before kissing the girl again.

Melody felt her lover's touch on her tentacles' suckers, making her lightly moan into their shared kiss. She did the same to the Inkling on top of her, while caressing her face with her other hand.

With a moan, the Inkling pulled back, a strand of spit connecting their lips for a few seconds until it broke apart, a soft blush ever present on their cheeks. A warm feeling began blossoming inside Amber, not unlike Melody's from before.

There was a moment where the only sound in the room was Melody's soft panting. Amber smiled at the younger girl, softly kissing her cheek.

"You seem tense,"

The Octoling's blush deepened. How could she not be?

"Ah-I'm sorry, it's just... I'm r-really nervous, being my first time and all..." Amber smiled softly at that.

"Don't worry about a thing, sweetie. This is something you should enjoy, not stress about,"

That same warm feeling came back to her, the feeling that everything was alright while they were together.

"We could also just... Make out if you are uncomfortable with going further," She suggested.

"A-ah, I... No, i-its okay, I do want this," the Octoling replied, to which Amber smiled.

Melody smiled back, moving in to kiss the Inkling while feeling her up underneath her clothes, noticing she wasn't wearing a bra.

After the short kiss, Melody took the initiative and began taking off Amber's shirts, first the short sleeved red shirt with a cartoony octopus on it, then the darker red long sleeved shirt underneath, the Inkling collaborating by raising her arms over her head with a smile.

The Inkling smiled seductively at her, moving in to remove the Octoling's tee, then working on the sports-bra underneath, letting her own breasts out. Both girls' breasts were about the same modest size, just enough to be a handful.

Amber made quick work of her own shorts, then took off Melody's skirt and shorts underneath, leaving them both naked on top of the bed.

The bolder girl of the two pushed the Octoling back with a kiss, straddling her once again. She ran her hands down her skin, stopping once to tease and pinch a nipple, bringing forth a gasp from Melody, followed by a soft moan.

Amber ended the kiss and laid down beside her, kissing her neck aggressively. Melody felt a stinging sensation on her neck and moaned painfully, looking towards the Inkling in confusion.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I gave you a hickey," Amber replied, delivering a much more softer kiss to the cyan-colored area "Did you like it?"

"It hurt, but... I think I did..." Melody looked directly into her eyes with a pleading look "Can you do it again?"

Amber smirked, and with no other words complied with the request, leaving more and more hickeys on to the Octoling's soft skin, be it her neck, or collarbone, or chest.

Melody was in absolute bliss. How was this woman doing this? They hadn't even started and yet she felt like she was in heaven!

Amber began slowly moving her hand downwards, almost teasing the younger Octoling, feeling her hearts beat hard and fast, just as hers were.

Reaching her sex, she toyed with the outer lips, making the girl beside her gasp and tense up.

She stopped kissing her neck, moving to whisper sweet nothings in her ear, calming the girl down. Melody turned her head to face her, mashing their lips together once again.

Amber carefully slipped her pointer finger inside, to which Melody tensed up once again, but calmed down after a few seconds. After that, the Inkling began moving it, doing come hither motions to stimulate the upper walls of her insides.

Melody broke the kiss and took a deep breath. She let out soft moans at Amber's actions, prompting her to improve her work. The Inkling added another finger inside, while using her thumb to lightly tease her clit. The Octoling gasped and gripped the covers underneath.

The slightly older girl smiled, asking the younger how she felt. She really wanted her first time to be special, just like hers had been.

"I... It feels really nice... Please do-oh~... Don't stop..."

Amber smirked and upped up the pace, using her free hand to lightly stimulate herself in the process, then began kissing and nipping at her girlfriend's neck once again.

Melody was in total bliss. She had never felt something like this before. And to think about the girl who was doing this to her...

Gods, she felt so special and loved right now.

Amber slowly moved downwards, never removing her fingers inside her lover, until she was face to face with her girlfriend's sex.

Without a second thought, she replaced her fingers with her mouth, lightly licking the entrance before actually slipping her tongue inside, bringing forth a high-pitched moan from Melody, who moved a hand to lightly rest on her lover's head.

She had a sweet flavor, not unlike that of a pineapple, which was coincidentally one of Amber's favorite fruits. She tested which parts of Melody's insides brought forth the most pleasure, judging by her moans, focusing her attention on those spots.

The younger girl had her head turned up to the ceiling, eyes closed in these magical sensations blossoming inside her. She could feel something was coming, but only had a pretty vague idea about what it was.

Amber knew, though. She could feel the muscular contractions on her girlfriend's insides, and redoubled her efforts to bring her ever closer to that sweet, sweet release.

"Aah~, Amber...!"

The Inkling looked up at Melody, not stopping what she was doing whatsoever. She was propped up on one of her elbows, eyes half lidded, looking back at her. The blush she had just intensified when they met eyes, a shy smile on her face.

"Aah~, I'm... R-really close..."

Amber smiled inwardly, closed her eyes and began trashing her tongue inside the Octoling, bringing forth a high-pitched moan from the girl. Said Octoling gently pushed her head inwards, hands shaking all the while.

Melody's moans progressively increased in pitch, her breathing became heavier, limbs shook as she neared the point of no return. Her mind went totally blank, just focusing on what she felt at the moment.

"A-Amber!"

She tried to warn her of her impending release, but couldn't do it in time. She threw her head back, her back arched, her toes curled as she moaned in ecstasy. This feeling was so much better than what the Octoling had thought it was going to be.

Amber didn't stop her ministrations, using one hand to stimulate the bundle of nerves to help her ride her orgasm out.

When Melody was done, and with a soft kiss to her lower lips, Amber separated and propped herself up to look at her.

The girl was laying back, eyes closed and panting heavily. Amber giggled inwardly and moved to her side.

"How was that?" She asked, idly playing with the girl's tentacles. Melody slowly opened her eyes, chuckling softly.

"I... it was wonderful" Melody said softly, as she regained her breath "Thanks for... being my first"

With a smile, the Inkling leaned in for a kiss, which she gladly accepted. The kiss was pretty tame compared to their earlier ones, being more loving than lustful.

Melody could faintly taste herself in the kiss. Instead of feeling disgusted by it, she found the act arousing.

"You were my first too, in a way," The Inkling said, after the kiss was broken "I love you,"

Those three words were absolutely delightful for the young Octoling. She moved in to kiss her again, pining her down.

She was the one in control this time, forcing her tongue inside Amber's lips, trying to imitate what the Inkling had done before, only half succeeding.

Even if she wasn't as good as the Inkling when it came to kissing, the Octoling's enthusiasm more than made up for it. She twirled and twisted her tongue inside the Inkling's mouth, while being mindful of her sharp teeth.

Amber giggled into the kiss, letting her have control, her hands exploring her girlfriend's body once again, coming to rest on her hips.

They separated a short time after, lovingly meeting each other's eyes.

"I... Love you too" Melody laid down beside her, hugging her and resting her head on the crook of her neck.

Amber felt a heartwarming sensation from those words, even though she was expecting them. She gently began petting her girlfriend's tentacles while she turned her head to kiss her again.

Unlike their previous kisses, this one was shorter, again, more loving than lustful. That same heartwarming sensation from before overtook both girls again.

"You are the best thing that has happened to me, you know?" Amber whispered, still twirling one of Melody's tentacles. The Octoling smiled shyly in response.

"...you too,"

She once again cuddled up to her, with Amber wrapping her arms around her midsection, letting her relax against her chest and listen to her heartbeat.

They both knew these moments were gonna stay with them forever.

After a while, the Octoling slowly looked up so the two were locking eyes. She opened up her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She began feeling extremely nervous all of a sudden, and Amber surely picked up on it.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked, running her fingers over her tentacles. Melody shyly avoided her gaze, muttering something under her breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I... Could I... Try..." She fell silent again.

"Try... What? Come on, you can tell me, sweetie"

"I... Want to... Try doing what you did to me..." Amber smiled softly, nodding her consent.

Melody responded with a smile of her own, moving so she was on top of her, much like the Inkling had done before.

She started by laying a soft kiss to her lips, slowly bringing a hand up to knead her right breast.

Amber let out a soft giggle into their kiss, moving her hands to rest on Melody's waist, kissing her back eagerly.

The Octoling slowly moved to kiss her jawline, then her neck, with Amber tilting her head backwards to expose more of it.

Unlike the Inkling's previous, more aggressive kisses, her lover's were much more soft and calm, like if she were to break like glass if she wasn't careful. Amber let out a content sigh. This was a nice change of pace.

Melody stopped her kissing and began moving down slowly, looking deep into Amber's eyes, who returned her gaze, both girls smiling softly at each other.

She came face to face with her girlfriend's lower lips, and in that moment she began feeling incredibly nervous once again. What if she couldn't please her like she had before? Would she be disappointed and dissatisfied with her?

Well, no matter duelling on it. She figured she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

She gave her girlfriend a soft, test lick. She could describe her flavor like that of an apple, sweet with a mildly acidic aftertaste. Figuring she didn't mind the taste, and perhaps even liked it, she slowly began licking again. Then again.

Amber began softly moaning after about the fourth lick, moving her right hand downwards to gently rest on her girlfriend's head, lightly pushing her towards her entrance. Melody took the hint and stuck her tongue inside, much to the Inkling's delight.

Here, the taste was much more acidic, but not unpleasantly so. Despite not knowing what to do, Melody figured that she couldn't go wrong with mimicking Amber's previous actions.

Closing her eyes, she moved her tongue in wide circles inside of Amber, testing where she got the loudest moans from her. She tried curling her tongue upwards, hitting a spot that made the Inkling tense up and push her further in, making her giggle inwardly in response.

She focused her attention in that spot, opening her eyes to look at her girlfriend once again. The Inkling's soft blush had intensified somewhat, and she wore a smile that widened once they locked eyes. The hand that wasn't resting on Melody's tentacles was tightly gripping the bedsheets.

Seeing Amber like that brought forth a swelling of pride to the young Octoling. She couldn't even remember what she was feeling nervous about earlier.

She brought up a hand and slightly brushed her pointer finger over her girlfriend's clit, getting a soft moan from her. Without stopping her licking, she began making slow circles on it with the help of another finger, Amber's moaning getting louder by the minute.

"G-gods, Melody..." She moaned, caressing her head softly "just like that~"

Hearing Amber moan her name gave her a spike in her arousal, knowing she was doing a good job at pleasing her. She responded by redoubling her efforts, focusing on that spot on her upper walls.

Amber's moaning began getting even louder, her breathing getting ragged and uneven. She had experienced this before exactly twice, with the only boyfriend she had been intimate with, but he had been quite aggressive with his licking. Not that she was complaining, but Melody's more calm and loving approach certainly gave his skills a run for their money.

Melody noticed the small shivers that ran through Amber's body, how her fingers stopped caressing her head in favor of pushing her in gently, and how her thighs clamped around her head, trapping her.

"F-fuuck~" Amber said between moans "Ah-I'm getting close~"

Melody removed her mouth from her insides, moving upwards to lick at her clit, jabbing the two fingers that were there earlier inside of her, stimulating that same spot on her upper walls.

Amber let out a loud moan from that, covering her mouth with a hand right after to keep the neighbors from hearing.

Gods, this girl was wonderful.

"Y-yes, Melody~" Amber moaned quietly, drawing out the last syllable "You're d-doing great, sweetie,"

Bloshing from the praise, Melody redoubled her efforts, upping the speed on her licking, trying to let her girlfriend experience that which she herself had experienced just a few moments ago.

Amber's moans increased in volume, caressing Melody's tentacles lovingly. The Octoling smiled inwardly, happy she was making Amber feel like this.

With a gasp, the Inkling threw back her head and clamped her thighs over Melody's face, tremors shaking her body as she had her own orgasm, Melody doing her part in helping her ride it out.

After a few seconds the sensation had dimmed down, with the Octoling removing her mouth from her girlfriend's sex and casually licking her lips.

"Did I do good?" She asked innocently, moving so she was by Amber's side, hovering above her. Their lips were just a few centimeters apart, and had Amber not been busy trying to regain her breath, the younger girl would have surely kissed her by now.

"So very good," the Inkling replied in a near whisper, moving to fully connect their lips, unintentionally fulfilling Melody's wish. They kissed for a few short moments, before the Inkling detached herself from the kiss and put her arms around her, upseting the Octoling's balance, rolling her over so she was on top of her, Melody letting out a small yelp of fright with a timid giggle following it.

"We aren't done here," Amber whispered onto the Octoling's ear, said girl shivering as she heard those words.

"...Okay" she whispered back.

With a smile, she straddled Melody once again, staring into those beautiful purple eyes while slowly grinding her hips on her midsection. The Octoling could feel the moisture and heat from between the Inkling's legs, further arousing her.

She slowly trailed her hands upwards, using one to play with the Inkling's suckers, while the other squeezed and fondled her breast.

With a moan, Amber slowly hoisted one of Melody's legs over her shoulder so they were in a scissoring position, and began slowly moving her hips once again.

Both girls let out soft moans as the pleasure slowly built up. Melody slowly began to move her own hips too, meeting Amber's movements, their pussies rubbing against each other.

The Inkling ran her hands over her girlfriend's body, resting on her slim waist for a moment, then moving up to her chest once again. She caught Melody's pretty face staring back at her, and she gave herself the opportunity to admire all of her features.

Those cute, rounded ears,

That sweet, lovely smile,

Those pretty, purple eyes...

"You have pretty eyes" the Inkling girl said, out of nowhere. Melody was caught completely off guard by it, who just stared back at her, taking her words in. She could feel her blush intensify as she took the compliment.

"A-ah, y-yours are, too..."

Amber couldn't help but giggle "I love the way you blush, too"

Melody couldn't reply. Amber's words made her feel warm inside, and brought forth even more pleasure from what she was doing.

"Those cute little tentacles that frame your face" she said, leaning over to touch and play with them, twirling one between her fingers, before moving to take on of her hands in hers "your soft hands which I could hold forever..."

"You're simply wonderful"

She let out a soft moan, and smiled sweetly at her lover. Amber smiled back, and intertwined their fingers together, rocking her hips faster.

Melody could feel herself approaching climax, yet didn't want this to finish this so quickly. She had to actually focus herself to tell Amber to stop.

"What's wrong?" She worriedly asked "Was I going too fast?"

"N-no, nothing's w-wrong" The younger girl took a deep breath to relax a bit and sat up, disengaging from her "Ah-I was just... getting close, is all..."

Her expression went from worried, to confused, prompting Melody to elaborate.

"I was t-thinking... M-maybe we could... H-hug while we are doing it...? Is... Is that too sappy?"

Amber smiled, then giggled "Yeah, it is," she put one arm around her midsection, leaning in to whisper in her ear "But I'm all for it,"

They got on a comfortable position, with Melody leaning back, using her right arm for support whilst Amber leant slightly over her, her arms wrapped around her midsection.

The Inkling began moving her hips once again, much to Melody's delight. She embraced Amber as best as she could while resting her forehead against hers.

This feeling... of being oh-so close to one another was known by the Inkling, but it was totally alien to the Octoling. The latter's mind was running with wild thoughts and emotions, while the former's was just focusing on making each other feel good.

Melody's breath quickened, as did her soft moaning. She could feel herself approaching climax again while she unconsciously embraced Amber harder. Said Inkling took notice of it, and began to gently run her fingers over the Octoling's cheek, their eyes meeting once again.

"Ah~...are you getting close again?" She softly asked between her moans, receiving a nod in confirmation "That's alright, I'm, aah~... pretty close, too"

"L-let's come together..." Melody said, grinding her hips slightly faster.

Amber nodded, too busy moaning to form up words. She picked up the pace, moving her hips faster and harder to make them both reach that point of no return they so desired.

Melody struggled to maintain the pace. Between the pleasure she was feeling and her low stamina from being a virgin, she was getting there way faster than she had anticipated. She could once again feel that sensation of her heartbeat quickening up, while she unconsciously threw her head back, her moaning becoming louder and more frequent.

She met Amber's eyes, who was in a bit of a similar position. Without a second thought, both girls mashed their lips together, moaning into the shared kiss while getting oh-so close to that breaking point.

With a loud moan into Amber's lips, Melody was the first to come. Her shaky arm failed to support her, and both girls fell backwards in to the bed, yet they didn't dare stop their movements.

Amber was next a few seconds later, doing her best to prolong the feeling for as long as possible until it began to die down, separating from their kiss right after.

Amber slowly opened her eyes to look at Melody who currently felt like she had run a marathon. Both girls were panting heavily, and no words were said as they basked in the afterglow.

Once Amber had regained her breath, she slowly got off Melody to lie beside her, leaving soft kisses on her girlfriend's face all the while.

The Octoling giggled a bit at the sensation, and turned to face the Inkling and share a soft kiss with her. They both were left staring into each other's eyes for a few seconds, softly smiling.

"That was wonderful" Melody softly spoke, snuggling into Amber and wrapping her arms around her midsection, softly embracing her "But I feel... A bit tired now"

With a soft giggle, Amber took the covers from under them and laid them on top of themselves "I'm all up for a quick nap if you ask me" She said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

Melody felt so warm and loved that moment, moreso than she had before. She snuggled even closer to Amber, partly laying on top of her and resting her head on her chest.

"I love you so much" the Octoling whispered, feeling her lover caress her tentacles softly.

"I love you too, sweetie"

* * *

Melody slowly opened her eyes to the darkness of Amber's room. Said girl was nowhere to be found. Neither were the Inkling's clothes, for that matter.

She noticed her own clothes were neatly folded on top of the nightstand beside Amber's bed, along with her jacket and phone. She checked the time. 9:37 P.M.

She giggled softly. They had gotten home at around 4 P.M. earlier that day. It appeared that they had taken a bit more than a small nap.

With a small smile growing on her face, she slowly got up and got dressed, leaving the rider aside. It's not like they were gonna go out at this hour for more matches.

She exited the room and noticed the faint glow coming from the apartment's living room, along with soft sounds from the T.V. in the same room. She made her way there to see her girlfriend on the loveseat in front of the screen, a controller clutched firmly in her hands.

She glanced her way and smiled, then continued to look at her game "Good evening, sweetie! Come sit, see me take this guy's last stock!"

She sat down next to the Inkling, leaning her head on her shoulder. On the screen a yellow, adorable anthropomorphic dog was battling a robot, on some kind of fountain stage. Melody noticed the cute doggie had two stocks left and a very low percentage, unlike her opponent that had just one stock and high percentage.

"Come ooooooon," Amber said, trying to catch her opponent "Just one grab should do it"

Her character shot off a small rock with a slingshot, making her opponent dodge the attack in the air. Amber saw her opportunity and ran forward, grabbing the robot with a bug net, tugging on it for a few seconds to cause more damage, then throwing him backwards off the stage.

The game slowed down, doing a dramatic zoom in of the scene, before her opponent was launched off the screen, the word "GAME!" appearing on it.

Amber let out a soft sigh, pumping her fist in celebration. Melody giggled softly, encasing her girlfriend in a hug.

"Finally," Amber said, putting down her controller on the coffee table, turning to return Melody's hug, lightly kissing her.

"How did you sleep?" She asked, playing with one of her tentacles. The Octoling giggled softly, moving to rest her head on her lap, looking upwards at her.

"So very well," she replied, smiling softly. Amber smiled back, leaning over her slightly to press a few buttons on her controller, a song Melody recognized as one of the game's menu themes began to play.

"I figured as much," Amber began, leaning back once again and looking downwards at her girlfriend, idly playing with one of her tentacles "You looked so peaceful and cute back there, I'd have taken a pic if you hadn't been naked," Melody bushed softly, yet giggled nonetheless.

"Don't say that,"

"But it's true!" She giggled along with her "what, did you want me to take a picture?"

"No!" Melody laughed, grabbing Amber's right tentacle to caress lovingly "Gods, you're such a dork,"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Amber conceded, smiling softly at her, still holding on to her —now slightly swaying— tentacle.

"Hey, what do you say we watch a movie and order something to eat?" She suggested, looking at Melody with a soft smile.

"That sounds nice," she replied, removing her head from Amber's lap and sitting down properly.

Amber smiled sweetly, taking out her phone and dialing a certain number. Melody moved to rest her head on the Inkling's shoulder again, wrapping her arms around her in a loving, relaxing embrace.

She took in the lovely smell from Amber's shampoo, then her lovely voice as she talked on the phone, then back to that lovely smell...

She smiled softly to herself.

Everything had gone better than expected.


End file.
